A policeman filmed kicking a teenager in the head won widespread backing yesterday after footage emerged of the shocking attack on his colleagues just moments earlier.
One former police and crime commissioner said it was now clear that he had been ‘frankly the hero’ of the situation, while an ex-armed response sergeant said his suspension should now be lifted.
And a serving chief inspector said the three firearms officers had been ‘very composed’ to have ‘left their handguns in their holsters’.
There were calls for their attackers to be prosecuted after horrifying CCTV footage showed how moments before being kicked, 19-year-old Fahir Muhammad Amas had left one policewoman with a broken nose and a second slumped on the floor.
Last week’s violent arrest at Manchester Airport – captured on bystanders’ mobile phones – sparked angry demonstrations and allegations of racism and ‘police brutality’.
Yesterday former Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley it was now clear that the officer – who was himself punched to the floor and grabbed in a chokehold – had been ‘frankly the hero’ of the situation.
‘That one guy saved the situation and actually, frankly, saved his colleagues,’ he told LBC radio.
‘Sometimes you have to do nasty things to people.’
Sharing the video on X – formerly Twitter – Chief Inspector Melanie Simmons, head of custody at Devon and Cornwall Police, expressed her ‘genuine disgust at seeing the appalling and protracted violent assaults that multiple officers sustained’.
She added that given the incident took place at a ‘high security location’, the firearms officers were ‘very composed in these circumstances given they only drew Tasers and left their handguns in their holsters’.
Ex-armed response officer Harry Tangye accused Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Rochdale MP Paul Waugh and Greater Manchester chief constable Stephen Watson of ‘pandering to mob rule’ by backing the investigation into the policeman seen kicking the teenager.
This is the moment in the original footage that sparked controversy after a police officer was seen kicking the young man on the ground in the head – but new footage has now shown what happened in the moments running up to this
New footage has shown the moments before a Greater Manchester Police officer was filmed kicking a teenager in the head at Manchester Airport
The new footage shows Fahir seemingly hitting a female police officer with a punch to her head
As the first officer points his Taser at Amaad, Fahir grabs him from behind in a chokehold
One female police officer can be seen slumped to the ground, while the other is hit by Fahir
The police officers attempt to bring the men under control after the scene descended into chaos
Accusing them of showing ‘no leadership or moral courage’, he posted: ‘I would argue it is NOT in the public interest to prosecute these officers.
‘Show a backbone for once and reinstate the officer.’
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said the ‘dreadful’ clip showed a ‘disgusting level of violence being meted out on police officers’.
He told GB News that it was now clear that in addition to the probe into the officer, there should be a ‘criminal investigation for a revolting, disgusting appalling level of violence’.
The CCTV clip – obtained by the Manchester Evening News – shows the male officer grab Fahir at a car park pay station, apparently over an earlier confrontation with a passenger.
His brother Amaad, 25, then throws a barrage of punches, leaving the officer slumped on the floor.
Fahir – dressed in light blue shorts – then punches a female officer, breaking her nose, before smashing a second policewoman to the ground.
As the first officer points his Taser at Amaad, Fahir grabs him from behind in a chokehold, only to be Tasered himself by the injured policewoman.
Both brothers were arrested on suspicion of affray and assaulting an emergency worker before being released on bail.
Responding to the footage yesterday, the brothers’ controversial Lamborghini-driving solicitor continued to insist the officer had been wrong to kick Fahir in the head after the teenager slumped to the ground.
Akhmed Yakoob – dubbed the TikTok lawyer – said: ‘After reviewing the CCTV footage from Manchester Airport, nothing can justify a kick to the head to a defenceless man and a stomp to the head. Those are my views.
‘These officers are highly trained, they shouldn’t be losing control or seeing red.’
Making a renewed call for calm, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham yesterday said the latest clip showed there were ‘two sides’ to this ‘complicated situation’.
‘If the whole picture had been put out straight away it would enabled people to make a more rounded judgement,’ he told BBC Breakfast.
‘The social media age we are living in now, people end up taking a side, but life is more complicated and the truth often lies in between.’
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has appealed for witnesses to the attack on its officers as well as two earlier incidents understood to involve the same family.
Sources have described how the brothers’ 56-year-old mother – whom they were greeting from her flight from Pakistan – told them about an incident on the flight which led to them confronting another passenger in the terminal building.
The first incident is an ‘an altercation between passengers’ from Qatar Airways flight QR023 that arrived at 7.20pm on Tuesday, which police said may have taken place on the flight or baggage hall.
Then at about 8.22pm there was a ‘violent altercation involving members of the public’ near Starbucks in Terminal 2.
Finally after the brothers were tracked via CCTV, at 8.28pm at the car park pay point area three police officers were assaulted and left with head injuries.
Last Wednesday, a large crowd protested outside the family’s local police station in Rochdale, with demonstrators shouting ‘GMP shame on you!’
The following day a second protest blocked roads and tram lines outside Mr Burnham’s office in central Manchester.
On Friday the brothers’ family issued a ‘plea for calm’ via their MP Mr Waugh and urged people not to take part in any further protests.
The officer filmed kicking Fahir has been suspended and placed under criminal investigation for assault by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
