Burnham calls for calm as police officer is suspended following airport video

The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer was suspended on Thursday after the video was shared widely on social media and prompted protesters to gather outside Rochdale police station late on Wednesday night.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who met with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss the incident on Thursday, asked for calm, saying the “right and proper steps” had been taken.

The footage, filmed at Manchester Airport’s terminal two on Tuesday, appeared to show an officer kick and stamp on the head of a man who was lying face down on the floor, with a woman kneeling beside him.

The video also appeared to show the officer strike a second man.

Police said three of their officers had been assaulted, including a female Police Constable who suffered a broken nose, and four men were arrested.

Speaking on BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday morning, Mr Burnham said full footage of the incident showed a “fast-moving and complicated” situation with “issues for both sides”, but said it was “right” that the officer had been suspended.

He added: “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 urged people not to use the situation for “political purposes”.

Speaking to media outside Rochdale police station on Thursday, solicitor Akhmed Yakoob said two of the men involved were members of a serving GMP officer’s family.

He said: “The family are okay but they are traumatised.”

He said the condition of one of the men had worsened and said a CT scan revealed a “cyst on his brain”.

He added: “The main concern for us, for me, is that the family receive justice and this no longer happens again.”

The regional director of police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), Catherine Bates, promised a “thorough and robust” independent investigation into the incident and said body-worn video and CCTV footage had been secured.

She later said that the IOPC had received a second referral from GMP.

Ms Bates said: “The first, received earlier today, concerned the use of force by an officer on a man who was detained on the ground. The second relates to the same officer’s use of Pava spray on another man at the airport.”

She added: “We have met with members of the first man’s family today, some of whom were present during the incident, to explain our role and to listen to their concerns. We will keep them updated as our investigation continues.

“We will ensure a robust investigation, independent of police, is carried out to investigate the circumstances that led up to and during the incident at Terminal 2. We know many people have serious questions about what happened and we will work to provide those answers as quickly as we can.”

The IOPC said its investigators had already secured a significant amount of body-worn video and CCTV footage which would be subject to detailed analysis.

After meeting with the force and Mr Burnham on Thursday, the Home Secretary welcomed the investigation and said: “I share the deep concern surrounding the video and understand the widespread distress it will have caused.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also said he had seen the video and said: “I understand that concern.”

Rochdale MP Paul Waugh spoke with the family on Thursday.

Mr Waugh said: “This is a hardworking Rochdale family, some of whose members are police officers themselves and are therefore particularly shocked at what they have witnessed.”

“The family also want me to make it crystal clear that they have no political agenda, do not condone political violence and do not want to take part in any protests.

“They wanted me to appeal for calm and I hope that appeal is heeded. 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.”

In the evening, a few hundred protesters gathered outside Mr Burnham’s office as part of a Stand Up To Racism demonstration, chanting slogans such as “No justice, no peace, no racist police”.

They then marched through the city before various speeches took place.

Crowds, reportedly of about 200 people, gathered outside Rochdale police station late on Wednesday, some chanting “GMP shame on you”.

According to the Manchester Evening News, some protesters let off fireworks outside the police station and one told the crowd: “We’re no longer going to settle for this police brutality. We put our trust in the police and what do they do instead they inflict violence upon us when we surrender to them.”

The force said the demonstration concluded “without incident”.

GMP has said officers at the airport were responding to reports of an altercation between members of the public.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of assault, assault of an emergency worker, affray and obstructing police and two were held on suspicion of affray and assault of an emergency worker, police said.

In a statement on Thursday morning, a force spokesman said: “Following a thorough review of further information that has become available in relation to an incident at Manchester Airport on Tuesday evening, Greater Manchester Police has suspended a police officer from all duties.

“A referral has now been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for a full independent investigation.

“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.”