The officer filmed kicking and stamping on men at Manchester Airport has been suspended pending investigation, Greater Manchester Police said.
Video footage of men being detained at the airport on Tuesday sparked fury yesterday as an officer was seen kicking and stamping on the head of a man who was being restrained on the floor.
GMP said an officer had been suspended from ‘all duties’ following a ‘thorough review of further information that has become available’. It has made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for a full independent investigation.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing the two men seen being arrested in the footage said ‘justice has to prevail’ after protesters gathered outside a local police station to accuse the force of racism. More protests are planned tonight.
Akhmed Yakoob, a director at Maurice Andrews Solicitors in Birmingham, is representing two men, named as Amaad and Fahir, who were filmed being arrested by taser-wielding cops at the airport on Tuesday.
Lawyer Akhmed Yakoob (centre) with two men named as Fahir and Amaad, one of whom was seen being kicked and stamped on by a Greater Manchester Police officer
Mr Yakoob joined protesters outside Rochdale Police Station late last night in an anti-racism protest
Protesters gather outside Rochdale Police Station overnight to demonstrate against the chaotic arrest of four men at Manchester Airport
At the late night rally speakers used a megaphone to lead the crowd in chants of ‘GMP, shame on you’
Solicitor Mr Yakoob said he intended to file a complaint of assault on behalf of the pair against the officers, adding: ‘We will be peaceful and we will get justice.’
Greater Manchester Police says it has suspended a police officer an officer from all duties after the incident, which began as officers responded to reports of an assault. It says three officers were injured, including one female who suffered a broken nose.
The force said this morning: ‘We understand the deep concerns that have been widely raised with us, and will continue to meet and discuss these feelings with Greater Manchester residents and elected representatives, whilst this independent investigation takes place.’
Campaigners from Manchester Stand Up To Racism have accused police of racism, organising a ‘We won’t stay quiet against racist police violence’ rally for later today after hundreds gathered outside Rochdale police station yesterday.
Mr Yakoob claimed in the video the pair had just been released from Cheadle Police Station and made their own way to hospital following the incident.
‘I’ve documented their injuries and we are headed to Rochdale police station to make a formal complaint of assault and wounding against the police officers,’ he said.
Mr Yakoob and GMP were contacted for further comment.
Protests are expected to take place outside Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s office at 6pm, as they call on him to act on the alleged ‘police brutality’.
Mr Burnham, newly re-elected in May, has appealed for ‘calm’ ahead of further protests, saying the incident was a ‘fast-moving and complicated situation’.
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Burnham said the footage was ‘very disturbing’ but that he had since viewed fuller video of the incident and that the circumstances were ‘not clear-cut’, with ‘issues for both sides in the situation’.
He added: ‘That said, here’s where I want to be really clear: it is right that the officer has been suspended. That is the right action, it is abundantly clear to me that the right steps have been taken.
‘I would ask for calm because what I can assure people is that the right and proper steps have been taken in the right way.’
He has urged the public to allow the investigation to proceed in a ‘thorough and measured way because it has to be fair to everyone in the situation’.
‘It doesn’t detract from what I said at the start – these are disturbing images, they are, and the right steps have been taken here by Greater Manchester Police – but we’ve all, from there, got to recognise that there is a process now that needs to be followed,’ he said.
‘I don’t think it’s right for people to say it’s all one thing, it’s all another thing, because, from what I’ve seen, it isn’t that, it’s more complicated than that.’
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has appealed for calm and urged the public to allow the investigation to proceed
Video footage of the men being taken into custody went viral after one of the men being detained was kicked stamped on the head by a police officer, while others were wrestled to the ground, Tasered and had incapacitant spray used on them.
In a statement issued last night, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) assistant chief constable Wasim Chaudry said the men were arrested after officers attended reports of an assault at Terminal 2 in the airport on Tuesday night.
The force had referred itself to the independent police watchdog over the incident and one officer had been taken off active duty. They were not initially suspended.
But Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan Police, said the actions of officers were ‘shocking’ and ‘absolutely appalling’.
Mr Babu told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Police can use force it has to be proportionate and necessary. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had guns pulled on me, knives pulled on me and you can use reasonable force like striking (with a) baton, that’s perfectly reasonable.
‘But what we’ve seen in that video clip is somebody lying prone on the floor and then a police officer coming and striking, kicking him in the head with heavy duty boots and then stamping on his head and then going to another person who has got his hands up in a defensive position, being dragged to the floor and then that individual has been kicked.
‘What is equally worrying is what appears to be a middle aged woman who is trying to calm the situation down is then shoved and pushed by a number of police officers.
‘More and more elements of this video is emerging and its hardly surprising that you’ve got demonstrations outside Rochdale police station.’
He added: ‘I think it is about the culture. Here we have a unit of white officers in specialist departments and a group of Asian people and the force used against them is totally excessive and I think racism played a significant part in this.’
‘I think what’s quite worrying is that GMP then put forward a senior Asian officer there is a little bit of a cynical attempt to try and say ‘look we’re dealing with this’.
The man being kicked in the video, now named as Fahir, is from Rochdale and late last night hundreds of people gathered outside the town’s main police station to protest the treatment of those who were arrested.
The men who were arrested at Manchester Airport are believed to have been taken to Rochdale Police Station on Tuesday night
Video posted online shows a long line of cars travelling in the direction of the police station late on Wednesday night
During the demonstration speakers labelled the police ‘institutionally racist’ and the lead crowd in chants of ‘GMP, shame on you’, with cries of ‘Allahu Akbar [God is greatest]’ and ‘f*** the police’ also heard.
One man holding a megaphone was hear telling listeners to remain peaceful at the protest, before adding ‘but tomorrow if we don’t get justice, these motherf*****s are gonna get it’.
A local Imam was seen trying to calm tensions within the crowd, telling them: ‘Rioting, being upset, is what these brothers want you to do. All I am asking is for you not to take the law into your own hands, be respectable citizens like our parents have taught us.’
Paul Waugh, the town’s newly elected Labour MP, said on social media site X that he had spoken to the family involved and would meet them in person tomorrow.
He wrote: ‘The video footage of a Greater Manchester police officer kicking and stamping on a man in Manchester Airport is truly shocking and disturbing.
‘Like many who have seen this clip, I am extremely concerned. I have had it confirmed that the man arrested is a Rochdale resident.
‘I have expressed my concerns directly to the Assistant Chief Constable this evening and have been in touch with Kate Green, Deputy Mayor for policing of Greater Manchester.
‘It’s right that the police officer concerned has been removed from duties and that this incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. I expect a thorough and swift investigation.
‘The police have said that while trying to arrest a suspect, three of their officers were attacked. They said that one officer suffered a broken nose and all three needed hospital treatment.
‘Our armed police face a very difficult job every day, and will themselves expect the highest standards of conduct from their officers in carrying out that vital duty to protect all of us.
‘It’s important that both the investigation by the police and the investigation into the police conduct now gather the full facts.’
George Galloway, the former MP for Rochdale, claimed on X that one of the men who was arrested had family members in the police.
He said: ‘I spoke at some length to both the uncle and the brother of those who were savagely assaulted on the videos that you’ve seen. Both the uncle and the brother are serving police officers.
‘This is important. This is a police family that was severely beaten by the police, stamping on their faces while they lay helpless and unresisting on the floor, kicking them in the head with police boots while they lay unresistant, helpless on the floor.’
The angry crowd gathered after video showing the arrests of four men at Manchester Airport on Tuesday night was shared online yesterday afternoon.
GMP said the men were detained on suspicion of a number of offences, including assault, assault of an emergency worker, affray and obstructing police.
Footage filmed by a witness showed a male officer stamping on one of the men’s heads
A woman who appeared to be accompanying the men tried to protect her companions from the violent onslaught
A second man was also seen being detained in the video – after being ordered off a chair, he appeared to be kicked and hit by the same officer
Several Tasers appeared to have been activated during the incident, which unfolded at Terminal 2
In video a man wearing blue shorts and a blue top is seen lying on the floor with his hands behind his back while an older woman kneels next to him. Behind the pair a man wearing a grey top and shorts sits on a chair with his hands above his head.
A male police officer who is holding a Taser then kicks the man who is on the floor in the face, before appearing to stamp on the back of his head as he turns away from the officer.
This sparks outrage from people watching the scene who can be heard shouting at the police ‘stop kicking people’ and ‘you’re on camera’. A female police officer can be seen pushed people who are filming away from the man.
In the background an officer can be seen shouting ‘get down, get down’ at the man sat in the chair. The man is then pushed to the ground by two officers and placed in handcuffs.
At this point the woman, who can be seen wearing a blue dupatta headscarf can be seen wandering confusedly between the two men, who are believed to be her sons. She is then pushed away by a female officer.
Other footage which appears to have been taken after the two men were taken away by officers appears to show police cornering a group of people in the same concourse.
In the video one officer who has his Taser out is seen pointing at a man and saying: ‘You’re going to get locked up.’
At this point one of the officers fires his incapacitant spay at one of the men, before he and another policeman grab hold of the man and wrestle him to the floor.
The men are then dragged away out of the building by officers towards a waiting police vehicle.
Additional footage shared on social media shows the moment police arrest two more men after the incident in which a detainee had his head kicked. Here a police officer uses incapacitant spray on one of the men
The officer is then joined by a colleague who grabs one of the men in a headlock in the footage
The man is then wrestled to ground before being put in handcuffs and dragged out of the building
Amar Rafiq, who filmed some of the original video, was returning to Manchester from Qatar when he saw the incident unfold in front of him.
He told MailOnline: ‘I walked out to the concourse where the incident was taking place. The officer had the man put up against the wall, he was trying to push and shove the officer.
‘Moments later the other guy that had been there punched the officer, then they took both of them to the ground. They [police] were saying ‘you’re under arrest’.’
He said that was when he started filming, capturing the moment one of the men appeared to be kicked in the head.
Mr Rafiq said: ‘I was just gobsmacked. The police [officer] just kicked the guy in the face.
‘Everyone was worried about themselves, they started panicking and rushing away, they feared they would be attacked.’
He added he did not see what happened to the men or the woman accompanying them because officers sent everyone away from the scene.
Mr Rafiq said at least ten officers were present at the time.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said they were called to reports of an altercation between members of the public.
In a statement issued this evening, Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry said the force understood why the video of the arrests ‘created alarm’.
He said: ‘We know that a film of an incident at Manchester Airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking, and that people are rightly extremely concerned about. The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.
‘In advance of what is shown in the footage available, we were called to reports of an assault at Terminal 2, Manchester Airport at 8.25pm on Tuesday 23 July.
‘The alleged suspect was seen on CCTV at a ticket machine in the car park and officers attended the location to arrest him.
‘During our response, three officers were assaulted. One female officer suffered a broken nose and the other officers were forced to the ground and suffered injuries which required hospital treatment.
‘One male officer has been removed from operational duties and we are making a voluntary referral of our policing response to the Independent Office of Police Conduct.’
The force also clarified that the officer in question had not been suspended by Greater Manchester Police.
It added: ‘Two men have been arrested on suspicion of assault, assault of emergency worker, affray, and obstructing police.
‘Two other men have also been arrested on suspicion of affray and assault of an emergency worker.’
In one piece of footage, taken by one of the men who was arrested, a police officer can be seen pointing a taser at a group of men
One officer can be seen pushing past a member of the public in a bid to arrest one man in the aftermath of the earlier incident
In an earlier statement Greater Manchester Police had said there was a ‘clear risk’ that officers’ firearms might be taken from them.
The spokesperson added there was a ‘clear risk’ officers’ firearms might be taken from them.
A statement read: ‘Officers were called to reports of an altercation between members of the public in Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport.
‘Whilst attempting to arrest one of the suspects of the earlier altercation, three officers were subject to a violent assault, where they were punched to the ground. A female officer suffered a broken nose and all three were taken to hospital for treatment.
‘As the attending officers were firearms officers, there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.
‘Four men were arrested at the scene for affray and assault on emergency service workers.
‘We acknowledge the concerns of the conduct within the video, and our Professional Standards Directorate are assessing this.’
But the force has already faced fierce criticism online over the clip, with former Chief Prosecutor for the northwest Nazir Afzal saying: ‘Obviously don’t have the whole picture but I see no justification for the kick in the head, followed by a stamp and a Taser on a prone, unarmed man with his hands by his side.’
Manchester Airport declined to comment.
