Call for calm after police officer suspended over ‘kicking’ video
THERE was a call for calm yesterday after a police officer was suspended following a video which appeared to show a man being kicked as he lay face down on the floor.
The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer was suspended yesterday 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 yesterday, 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.
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 yesterday 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 yesterday, solicitor Akhmed Yakoob said two of the men involved were members of a serving GMP officer’s family.
He said: “The family are OK 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”.
The regional director of police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), Catherine Bates, promised a “thorough and robust” independent investigation.