UK: Police officer suspended after Manchester airport 'brutality' videos go viral

Greater Manchester Police has suspended an officer involved in a violent fracas at Manchester airport on Wednesday.

The confrontation was captured on several videos that went viral on social media, and has resulted in the arrest of four people, including for suspicion of assault, obstruction of police and affray.

In one video, the police officer concerned is seen kicking the head of an Asian man who has been restrained on the ground.

In another, a police officer is seen discharging pepper spray at a man filming him, before wrestling him to the ground.

Police officials say they were responding to an altercation between members of the public at Terminal 2 of the airport.

“Whilst attempting to arrest one of the suspects of the earlier altercation, three officers were subject to a violent assault, where they were punched to the ground," a police statement said in the aftermath of the arrests.

"A female officer suffered a broken nose and all three were taken to hospital for treatment."

The videos prompted outrage on social media and accusations of police brutality.

Writing on X, George Galloway, the former MP for Rochdale, which is in Greater Manchester, wrote: "The politicians in Greater Manchester better get a grip of the Manchester Airport affair fast. Very fast. The atmosphere in the community is boiling with rage and I urge calm upon everyone involved in the justified protests now spreading across the region."

A British police officer brutally stamped on a man's head at Manchester Airport in a video shared on social media. The man can be seen lying on the floor near his mother, not resisting after being tasered. The same officer was later seen kicking another man in the leg while he… pic.twitter.com/d6wijun7tC

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 24, 2024

In a later statement sent to Middle East Eye, Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry of the Greater Manchester Police said: “We know that a film of an incident at Manchester airport that is circulating widely shows an event that is truly shocking, and that people are rightly extremely concerned about.

"The use of such force in an arrest is an unusual occurrence and one that we understand creates alarm.

“One male officer has been removed from operational duties and we are making a voluntary referral of our policing response to the Independent Office of Police Conduct."