Manchester Airport incident ‘complicated’, mayor says as new video emerges

Footage from Manchester Evening News appears to show violent and frenetic moments before the incident.

A general view of Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport (Dave Thompson/PA) (PA Archive)

The Mayor of Greater Manchester urged people “not to rush to judgment” over the Manchester Airport incident after new footage appears to show a violent and frenetic lead-up.

Protests erupted in Rochdale and Manchester city centre after a video circulated of an officer allegedly kicking and stamping on a man as he lay face-down during an arrest at the airport on Tuesday.

A Greater Manchester Police constable has been advised he is under criminal investigation for assault over the incident, the IOPC said on Friday.

On Saturday, Manchester Evening News published new footage believed to be of the preceding events.

The video appears to shows a group of people standing by ticket machines in Terminal Two (T2) and a man in a light blue outfit is facing one of the machines.

It appears three officers approach him from behind and try to restrain him, with a male officer seemingly pushing his head down.

Another man, wearing a dark t-shirt, appears to grab the male officer and the two start to throw punches at one another.

The male officer seems to lower to the ground as the man repeatedly strikes him.

Meanwhile a female officer is restraining the man in blue, but he appears to break free and strike her and another female officer, with one ending up on the ground.

The male officer then seems to point his taser at the man in a dark t-shirt before the man in blue runs at him from behind.

They appear to grapple until the man in blue lies still on the ground, face-down, and a woman kneels by his side.

The officer then appears to kick and then stamp on his head, which was shown in the footage already widely circulated.

Greater Manchester Police has opened a public portal for more footage and it is appealing for witnesses to three incidents.

The first is “an altercation between passengers” from Qatar Airways flight QR023 that arrived at 7.20pm, which they said may have taken place on the flight or T2 baggage hall.

There was then a “violent altercation involving members of the public” in T2 at about 8.22pm, GMP said.

At 8.28pm at the terminal’s car park pay point area three police officers were assaulted and left with head injuries including a broken nose, it added.

After Manchester Evening News published the latest footage, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said in a statement: “As I said on Thursday, this is a complicated situation with two sides to it.

“It is why I urged people not to rush to judgment.

“Following incidents in the run-up to the footage people saw this week, four individuals were arrested and are now on police bail.

“It is frustrating that we have not been able to put more video into the public domain but that is because this is a live investigation.

“People now need to step back and allow the IOPC’s criminal investigation into the officer’s conduct to move forward, alongside the parallel GMP investigation into other potential offences, so that a complete picture can be presented.

“Given all these investigations are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”

The family of the man who was reportedly kicked and stamped on issued a “plea for calm” and urged people not to take part in any further protests, their MP said earlier on Saturday.

Paul Waugh, the newly elected Labour MP for Rochdale, shared a statement written by the family urging people to give those involved “time to heal” and for “due process to take its course”.

Mr Waugh shared an image of the family’s statement on X on Saturday morning and wrote: “They have issued a plea for calm and ask for no further protests – they want due process to take its course and urge everyone to respect their wishes.

“Yesterday’s meeting in Rochdale made clear that this is a community that strongly believes in the rule of law, that the criminal justice system should follow the evidence wherever it leads, and that offenders should be punished appropriately.

“Those present also rightly stressed that the law should be applied equally to everyone and that no one, particularly the police, should be above the law.”

The officer facing a criminal investigation was also served with a disciplinary notice to inform him he was being investigated for potential gross misconduct for a number of alleged breaches of police professional standards, including his use of force, an IOPC spokesman said.

On Wednesday, a large crowd protested outside Rochdale police station, reportedly shouting “GMP shame on you”, while on Thursday, demonstrators blocked roads and tram lines in a protest which started outside Mr Burnham’s office in central Manchester.