Content warning: This article contains an image and elements which may be distressing.
A teenager kicked in the head by a police officer during an incident at Manchester Airport is in hospital with a potential brain injury, his family’s lawyer has claimed.
Akhmed Yakoob, a solicitor speaking on behalf of the 19-year-old, said he had been left “traumatised” by his experience at the hands of Greater Manchester Police on Tuesday night.
He named his client as Muhammed Fahir.
“He’s traumatised, he’s scared of the police, he’s scare to come out of his house,” Mr Yakoob said.
i has been unable to independently verify the claims about the 19-year-old’s health.
Mr Yakoob, director at Maurice Andrews Solicitors in Birmingham, is currently under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority over an alleged false claim of racism.
Backed by former Rochdale MP George Galloway, he has stood unsuccessfully to be the Mayor the West Midlands and an MP in Birmingham Ladywood.
Greater Manchester Police has suspended an officer over the incident and the Independent Office for Police Conduct has launched an (IOPC) investigation.
The video clip, which has been shared widely on social media, appears to show a firearms officer kicking a man and stamping on his head while he is lying face down on the ground.
Four men were arrested on suspicion of affray and assaulting an emergency worker following the incident at Manchester Airport’s Terminal Two.
Four police officers were also injured including a female officer who suffered a broken nose.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Police Andy Burnham said the incident began with an “issue” on a flight arriving from Pakistan and that there was an “altercation” in the arrivals hall which escalated “very quickly”.
Police say they were called to reports of an assault at 8.25pm.
Mr Yakoob would not comment on the circumstances which led to Mr Fahir being arrested but suggested nothing would justify the use of force shown in the video.
“I don’t know what happened before but one thing I can say that nothing justifies the barbaric treatment from the police officers. As you can see by the videos, there was no threat whatsoever to the police or the public,” he said.
The family, including young children, had been waiting at the airport for the return of their grandmother, Mr Yakoob claimed.
The teenager’s brother is himself an officer in Greater Manchester Police and has refused to return to work, Mr Yakoob added.
“The older brother is a serving police officer, this man is now afraid to go to work,” he said.
Mr Yakoob said he had met with the IOPC, which is carrying out an independent investigation into what happened.
“The main concern for us for me is that the family receive justice and this no longer happens again,” he added.
IOPC regional director Catherine Bates promised a “thorough and robust” investigation.
She said: “We appreciate the footage which was shared on social media has attracted widespread shock and concern.
“It is vitally important we investigate all of the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Manchester, 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.”
Mr Burnham urged people not to use the situation for “political purposes”.
Hundreds of people attended a protest outside Rochdale police station on Wednesday night with some chanting “GMP shame on you”.
Rochdale MP Paul Waugh said he is meeting with the family involved and described the footage as “truly shocking and disturbing”.
“Like many who have seen this clip, I am extremely concerned,” he said.
“The police have said that while trying to arrest a suspect, three of their officers were attacked.
“They said that one officer suffered a broken nose and all three needed hospital treatment.
“Our armed police face a very difficult job every day, and will themselves expect the highest standards of conduct from their officers in carrying out that vital duty to protect all of us.”
The incident has stoked tensions in Rochdale, a town with a large Muslim population.
“Asian people will lose trust in the police, 100 per cent,” an Asian man, aged 43, who declined to give his name, told i.
“They wont report things now, they won’t feel safe next to a police officer, they will think ‘am I going to get jumped on and get my head kicked in?’”
GMP Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry said: “We understand the immense feeling of concern and worry that people feel about our response and fully respect their right to demonstrate their views peacefully.
“We have already referred our actions to the Independent Office for Police Conduct and will be in further discussions with them today.
“We have spent the evening listening to community feedback and will continue to engage with communities and elected members to maintain strong partnership links and understand local views.”
Amar Minhas, from Leeds, told the BBC he was coming through arrivals at the airport when he saw police officers approach a man, in his early 20s, and pin him up against a wall, before a fight broke out.
He described the man “throwing punches, he was tasered, and fell to the floor”, adding “that’s when the policeman kicked him”.
The leader of Manchester City Council, Councillor Bev Craig, has written to the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police to express the council’s “profound concern” about the incident.
In a letter, she wrote: “Councillors have been inundated with messages from upset and distressed constituents who have seen footage of shocking and seemingly disproportionate force used by an officer during an arrest.
“No one underestimates what a challenging job being a police officer is and officers must themselves expect to be safe from violence in conducting their duties, but it is a central tenet of our democracy that policing is by consent and anything which serves to undermine relations between our communities and the police erodes that principle and damages trust.”
Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson posted on X: “I am aware of disturbing footage from an incident at Manchester airport this afternoon and understand the public concern it has prompted. I have asked for a full update from Greater Manchester Police.”