Summary
- Manchester Airport firearms officer suspended for kicking and stomping on man during arrest.
- Police were responding to an assault when they were assaulted.
- Incident sparked claims of racism, with protesters outside police station.
A police officer has been suspended after kicking and stamping on a man during an arrest at Manchester Airport. Video footage of the incident has circulated widely on social media, with some claiming the excessive use of force was motivated by racism.
Manchester Airport officer suspended after stamping incident
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has suspended the police officer filmed kicking and stomping on a man’s head while he was being restrained pending an investigation. The incident occurred in the car park area of Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 on Tuesday evening as two men, named as Amaad and Fahir, were being arrested.
Firearms officers had been responding to reports of an assault in Terminal 2 – once at the scene, three police officers were assaulted, including one female officer who was left with a broken nose. Amid the chaotic scenes, one police officer kicked a man in the face while he was lying face down on the ground before stomping directly on his head.
An initial GMP statement said the officer in question had been removed from active duty, but it is now confirmed he has been suspended. The statement added that, given the attending officers were firearms officers, “there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.” Four individuals were arrested following the incident on suspicion of assault, assault of an emergency worker, affray, and obstructing police.
Manchester mayor provides update
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has provided more details on what led to the incident, stating that it initially began “on a flight coming into Manchester Airport.” The two individuals involved, Amaad and Fahir, had been at the airport waiting for their mother to arrive on a flight.
Photo: estherpoon | Shutterstock
However, their mother had apparently been involved in some kind of dispute with another passenger during the flight and pointed out this individual to her two sons. There was then some kind of altercation in the Arrivals hall, which led to officers being dispatched to the location.
Was racism a factor?
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside of Rochdale police station – the town where the individual who was kicked and stomped on is believed to reside – with some speakers claiming that the GMP was “institutionally racist.”
This viewpoint was echoed by former Metropolitan police chief superintendent Dal Babu, who told BBC Radio 4 that he believes “racism played a significant part in this,” noting the “unit of white officers” using excessive force against “a group of Asian people.” A referral has been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which handles complaints against the police.
However, having viewed the full footage from the airport (which has not yet been made public), Mayor Burnham disagreed with Babu’s assessment, stating,
“I don’t think it’s particularly responsible for a senior police officer or ex-police officer to say that, without having looked at everything. It would be one thing if we could put all this footage out there but of course because there is now an investigation we can’t.”