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On July 23, 2024, a police offer was suspended from duty and four men were arrested on suspicion of affray and assault on emergency workers following a violent altercation at Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom. Footage of the incident was widely circulated on social media, with The Guardian reporting that it "shocked the world" and led to fears of serious unrest in the hometown of one of the men involved. The video showed a police officer with his Taser drawn, kicking and stamping on the head of a man laying on the ground, and kneeing him in the side.[1][2]
Chief constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Wasim Chaudhry said, "In advance of what is shown in the footage available, we were called to reports of an assault at terminal 2, Manchester airport, at 8.25pm on Tuesday 23 July. The alleged suspect was seen on CCTV at a ticket machine in the car park and officers attended the location to arrest him. During our response, three officers were assaulted. One female officer suffered a broken nose and the other officers were forced to the ground and suffered injuries which required hospital treatment."[3]
In the week following the incident, footage emerged of what happened beforehand. It showed GMP officers restraining a man, a second man intervening, and a fight breaking out. The two officers were punched to the ground. After the release of the video, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham reiterated an early statement that it was "a complicated situation with two sides to it".[4] In September 2024, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced an investigation into whether the footage "was provided by someone working for Greater Manchester Police and, if so, the justification for this".[5]
In October 2024, right-wing political party Reform UK threatened legal action against two of the men involved in the incident if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to charge them. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused GMP and the CPS of "two-tier policing" for not announcing charges. The Home Office refuted these claims, saying it is "right the CPS and the IOPC were able to carry out their investigations independently".[6]
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