Racism played a “significant part” in a man being kicked in the face and stamped on by police during an arrest at Manchester airport, according to a former Metropolitan police chief superintendent.
Dal Babu, who served for more than 30 years in the Met, described a video of the arrest as shocking and “totally appalling”.
The video, filmed at Manchester airport on Tuesday, appears to show a man being kicked in the face and his head being stamped on by a Greater Manchester police (GMP) officer as he lies prone on the floor, with a later clip showing police shoving a woman who is attempting to de-escalate the situation.
On Thursday morning, GMP said the police officer had been suspended from all duties after a “thorough review of further information”. The force referred its actions to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on Wednesday.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Babu said the force used was “totally excessive” on a man who was “effectively defenceless”, adding: “I think racism played a significant part in this.”
He said: “This is a very, very serious incident, and at a time when trust in the police is so low, this is another example of an incident where people will be further concerned. In the old days, it used to be minorities, used to be LGBTQ people, used to be young people, but now I think no matter where you go, more and more people have less confidence in the police.”
He said he thought the Home Office would be “very interested” in the case. “This is a really significant incident that really needs to be dealt with effectively, and I’m not sure that Greater Manchester police has the skills necessary to manage working with the communities to try and reduce the tension.”
Police said three of their officers had been assaulted in the altercation at the airport’s terminal 2, including a female PC who suffered a broken nose, and four men were arrested for affray and assaulting emergency service workers.
Demonstrators at a protest on Wednesday night were reported to have shouted “GMP shame on you” as an estimated 200 people gathered outside Rochdale police station. The assistant chief constable Wasim Chaudhry said the protest “concluded safely, without incident”, adding: “We understand the immense feeling of concern and worry that people feel about our response and fully respect their right to demonstrate their views peacefully.”
He said: “We have spent the evening listening to community feedback and will continue to engage with communities and elected members to maintain strong partnership links and understand local views.”
Babu said he thought it was “quite worrying” that an Asian officer was put forward to speak to the press about the incident. He said: “It’s not the chief constable, it’s not Steve Watson, it’s Asian officers. You can count on one hand the number of senior Asian officers in Greater Manchester police.
“There is a little bit of a cynical attempt to put forward an Asian officer to try to say ‘We’re dealing with this’, but this incident is over 48 hours in, and I think Greater Manchester police have been slow out the blocks in understanding the seriousness of this.”
The Rochdale MP, Paul Waugh, said he was due to meet with the family involved on Thursday, and described the footage as “truly shocking and disturbing”. “Like many who have seen this clip, I am extremely concerned. I have had it confirmed that the man arrested is a Rochdale resident and I hope to meet the family as soon as possible,” he said.
“It’s right that the police officer concerned has been removed from duties and that this incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. I expect a thorough and swift investigation.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Manchester, the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, said he would be speaking to the IOPC to “ensure the highest level of independence for this investigation and, secondly, that there will be input from community stakeholders”.
He added: “It doesn’t detract at all either though from the footage that people have seen on social media, it remains disturbing to me and hence the right steps have been taken with the suspension and the right process now has to be put in place to ensure that everybody can have confidence in what follows from here.
“We do these things in the right way here, honestly, we never turn away, we never look away from difficult things, we do it carefully, we do it properly and that is exactly what is now going to happen and it is why I will be working with everybody today in getting out that message for calm.”