LONDON — A video clip showing a British police officer kicking a man in the head as he lies face down at an airport has sparked protests and accusations of police brutality and racism.
Video footage of the Tuesday incident at Manchester Airport shows a White male officer pointing a Taser at a man lying on the floor. The officer kicks the man, who appears to be of South Asian heritage, in the face and stomps on his head, before kneeling on him.
The officer then approaches another man, who is sitting on a chair and has his hands behind his head, appearing to tell him to get on the ground. The man kneels on the ground, and the officer then stomps on his thigh and hits him in the head.
The incident has led to shock and outrage in England, where police officers are not routinely armed, and are expected to use force only when necessary. Various police forces have faced accusations of racism — and previous allegations of police brutality have sparked protests or riots that have swept the country.
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The unnamed male officer has been suspended and removed from all duties, and the incident has been referred to an independent police complaints watchdog, according to the Greater Manchester Police.
On Friday, the watchdog said the officer was under investigation for criminal assault.
Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry said in an earlier statement: “We know that a film of an incident at Manchester Airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking... The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.”
Chaudhry said police had been responding to “reports of an assault” at the airport before the footage shown. “During our response, three officers were assaulted. One female officer suffered a broken nose and the other officers … suffered injuries which required hospital treatment,” he said, adding that four men had been arrested on suspicion of assault, or obstructing police.
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Hundreds of protesters joined demonstrations in the area this week, some calling for the police force to be dismantled, or holding anti-racism banners, according to local media reports.
The lawmaker for Rochdale, Paul Waugh, said in a statement that he had spoken to the family involved in the incident, who were his constituents, “and it is clear they are deeply traumatised by what happened.” He said the family, which he did not name, had asked for privacy.
Waugh called for accountability and said police officers were not “above the law,” while stressing that the family had told him to “appeal for calm” and had underscored that they had “no political agenda … and do not want to take part in any protests.”
“While there is clearly deep concern about this incident, there is also a vital need not to let extremists of any kind hijack these events for their own ends,” Waugh added, noting that the family had members working in the police force. He also expressed concern for the injured female police officer.
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A lawyer for the family, Akhmed Yakoob, labeled the incident “police brutality” and called for “justice.” He told reporters that the family is “traumatized” and that a scan revealed one of the men had a cyst on his brain.
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, described the video footage as “disturbing,” and said it was right the officer involved had been suspended. However, he cautioned that the event was not “clear cut,” saying he had seen evidence of “the full situation as it escalates” and that “there are issues on both sides,” as he called for calm.
Incidents of police use of force have been a flash point in the past — most notably in 2011, when the shooting of a Black man, Mark Duggan, in London sparked riots that were described as the United Kingdom’s worst civil unrest in a generation. The clashes began in London, but also spread to several other cities, including Manchester.
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Protests also erupted in 2020 in the United Kingdom in solidarity with U.S. protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The Greater Manchester Police Force has been the subject of reports and allegations of racism.A 2021 report found that Black people were more likely to be arrested, Tasered and searched by Manchester police than White people, while an equality adviser said in 2023 the force was still “perpetuating racial discrimination.”
Elsewhere in the country, an official review last year found evidence of racism, misogyny and homophobia in London’s Metropolitan Police force, recommending that the force undergo a dramatic overhaul to address deep-seated issues. The Met police force commissioned the review after an officer admitted to kidnapping, raping and murdering a woman walking home, Sarah Everard, in 2021.
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