Manchester airport video shows lead-up to police kick incident

A video has emerged showing what happened before a police officer was filmed kicking and stamping on a man’s head at Manchester Airport.

Officers can be seen trying to restrain one man before a second intervenes.

A fight breaks out and two officers are punched to the ground, the footage obtained by the Manchester Evening News shows.

The officer later filmed stamping on a man’s head is facing disciplinary action and an assault probe by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Following the release of the new video, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham reiterated his earlier statement that it was “a complicated situation with two sides to it”.

He said he hoped the release of more footage would give people a “fuller picture”, adding that he was worried about people jumping to conclusions and speculation online.

Akhmed Yakoob, who has been speaking publicly on behalf of the family, said “nothing could justify a kick to the head of a defenceless man”.

He described the police involved as “highly-trained officers” who “should not be seeing red”.

In the new footage, a man wearing grey clothes struggles with a male officer and punches are thrown.

Another man, who is dressed in blue, punches two other officers – one male and one female – to the floor.

The officer who is grappling with the first man breaks away and points a Taser at him.

While he is pointing the stun device, the man in blue runs over and punches him.

Another male officer then tasers the man in blue, who falls to the ground with the first male officer, who he is still holding on to.

An older woman, who can be seen falling over earlier in the video, crawls over to the man in blue, who is face down on the floor.

The first officer has by now stood up and aims his own Taser at the man in blue before appearing to kick him in the head.

The new footage ends there, but the video released last week shows the officer stamping on the head of the man prone on the floor.

BBC Verify analysis of five social media videos of the incident suggests the violence did not end here.

Another video appears to show the officer who stamped on the man’s head then approaching the man in grey, stamping on his thigh, and hitting him on the back of the head with a Taser.

Another officer appears to pepper-spray bystanders who are filming the incident.

The newest video is not included in the Verify coverage.

On Thursday, protests were held outside a police station in Rochdale, with demonstrators accusing Greater Manchester Police (GMP) of institutional racism.

The family of the man who was stamped on has appealed for “calm in all the communities”, according to Rochdale MP Paul Waugh, who spoke to them after the incident.

He told BBC Breakfast the family were “acutely aware” there were “extremists of all sides who are keen to hijack this incident for their own ends”.

He said the “strong message” the family wanted to give is that they have “no political agenda whatsoever”.

GMP said there had been a “clear risk” the firearms officers could have had their weapons taken from them, and three officers had been taken to hospital, including a female officer whose nose was broken.

Four men, aged 19, 25, 28 and 31, were arrested in the aftermath on suspicion of affray and assault, and later bailed.

The force said it understood the “deep concerns” that had been “widely raised” over the footage.

Mr Burnham told BBC Breakfast on Sunday: “The risk is, of course, is you get consequences from those judgements and that furore builds.

“That can have an impact on communities, can have an impact on public order.”

The mayor said he understood the frustration that the police had been unable to release more video because it was evidence in 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,” Mr Burnham added.

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar told BBC Newsnight he was disappointed that leading politicians, including Mr Burnham, had asked people to consider the context to the incident.

There was “no justification” for a police officer to act this way, he said, adding that the context was “irrelevant”.