Top Scots lawyer representing family at centre of Manchester Airport incident

One of Scotland’s top lawyers has taken on the representation of the family at the centre of a violent incident at Manchester Airport.

Protests erupted in Rochdale and Manchester city centre after a video circulated of an officer allegedly kicking and stamping on a man as he lay face-down during an arrest at the airport on Tuesday.

A Greater Manchester Police constable has been advised he is under criminal investigation for assault over the incident, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Friday.

Aamer Anwar said he had been instructed on behalf of Fahir Amaaz, Muhammad Amaad, their mother and family.

“I have spoken to the IOPC with regards to lodging a formal complaint and expect all CCTV and police bodycam footage to be retained,” Mr Anwar said.

“There can be no excuse for any footage to inadvertently disappear. If certain police officers behave like this in an area full of CCTV and in the presence so many witnesses, then it really begs the question of what they are capable of when there is no such evidence.

“Highly trained police officers can never use provocation or emotion to justify the use of excessive, illegitimate and potentially lethal force.”

The Mayor of Greater Manchester said “nobody is in possession of the complete picture” of the incident.

Andy Burnham urged people to “take a step back” and allow the authorities to carry out their investigations after the Manchester Evening News published new footage on Saturday thought to show the lead-up to the incident.

A new video appears to show a group of people standing by ticket machines in terminal two (T2) and a man in a light blue outfit is facing one of the machines.

It appears male and female officers attempting to restrain two men were involved in a series of strikes and punches before one man was tasered.

An officer and a man in blue appear to grapple until the latter lies still on the ground, face-down, and a woman kneels by his side.

The officer then appears to kick and then stamp on his head, which was shown in the footage already widely circulated.

Greater Manchester Police has opened a public portal for more footage and it is appealing for witnesses to three incidents.

The first is “an altercation between passengers” from Qatar Airways flight QR023 that arrived at 7.20pm, which they said may have taken place on the flight or T2 baggage hall.

There was then a “violent altercation involving members of the public” in T2 at about 8.22pm, GMP said.

At 8.28pm at the terminal’s car park pay point area three police officers were assaulted and left with head injuries including a broken nose, it added.

The family of the man who was reportedly kicked and stamped on issued a “plea for calm”, and urged people not to take part in any further protests, their MP said earlier on Saturday.

Paul Waugh, the newly-elected Labour MP for Rochdale, shared a statement written by the family urging people to give those involved “time to heal” and for “due process to take its course”.

The officer facing a criminal investigation was also served with a disciplinary notice to inform him he was being investigated for potential gross misconduct for a number of alleged breaches of police professional standards, including his use of force, an IOPC spokesman said.

On Wednesday, a large crowd protested outside Rochdale police station, reportedly shouting “GMP shame on you” while on Thursday demonstrators blocked roads and tram lines in a protest which started outside Mr Burnham’s office in central Manchester.