The Mayor of Manchester in the UK has urged people not to rush to judgment after new footage emerged around the incident at Manchester Airport this week, which saw a policeman suspended for kicking a man in the head.
In the original video, which went viral, a police officer was filmed kicking and stamping on a man’s head while the man was lying on the floor, in what is said to have been Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2.
The video was seen as evidence of police brutality, sparking antiracism protests in Manchester’s Rochdale on Thursday. The police officer was removed from duty by the Greater Manchester Police.
The footage leaked on Sunday morning showed the man repeatedly punching police officers at the moment leading up to the incident.
It revealed the complexity of the case, which had been distorted on social media, said Mayor Andy Burnham.
"It's a complicated situation, a very violent situation, actually, and there were issues on both sides,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
"And that's why I asked other people not to rush to judgment because of the complexity of it. And simply nobody out there - everyone who's having their say - nobody has got all of the facts."
This, and earlier unreleased footage will form part of two separate police enquiries into a “potential assault at the Manchester airport” and on police conduct, Mr Burnham said.
In the video, a male police officer attempted to grab the hand of a man in a blue T-shirt and shorts, as the man was paying for a car park ticket at Manchester Airport. The officer appears to push the man’s head down, while two female colleagues stand beside him.
Another man then grabs the male officer in an attempt to free the man in blue who had been restrained, and repeatedly punching the officer. The man in blue then breaks free, punching the female officers in the face and the male officer.
The altercation continues, with both men repeatedly throwing punches at the male officer. The man in blue can eventually be seen held down with a Taser, after which the male policeman kicks him in the head.
Mr Burnham welcomed the release of the new video but said there was other footage captured before the incident that gave additional context as to what happened.
“There is a fuller picture out there, and that’s helpful,” he said.
He said there had been an initial dispute between passengers on the plane, and another at baggage reclaim, which led to the man in the new video being stopped by the police.
“There are three stages to this. There is what happened on the plane. There is the baggage hall. The footage people are seeing is the subsequent police intervention,” he said.
His calls for restraint come as the right-wing Reform MP Lee Anderson described the men in the video as “animals” who “need locking up” on social media, having been criticised for earlier comments commending the suspended police officer.
Three officers were assaulted during the response, with one female officer suffering a broken nose and two other officers requiring hospital treatment after being forced to the ground, the GMP's assistant chief constable said on Wednesday, after the initial video was made public.
