WATCH | ‘WE SUPPORT POLICING, NOT BRUTALITY’

Fri 26 July 2024:

A human rights advocate in the United Kingdom (UK) has said while he supports policing and the justice system, brutality is something people will not tolerate.

Akhmed Yakoob was responding to an outrageous incident at the Manchester Airport. In a now-viral video that has sparked widespread outrage and condemnation, a police officer is recorded kicking a South Asian man on the ground.

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Yakoob said the incident was not merely an “assault”, but should more appropriately be framed as attempted murder.

He said: “It’s not only an assault. If that was done by civilians – five or six civilians, for example – and they … held a steel pole and struck someone who was defenceless, on the floor, not resisting whatsoever … they would right now be charged with joint enterprise attempted murder.”

The man was reportedly there to collect his mother who had returned home after spending time participating in charitable endeavours abroad. Frankly, Yakoob asked, “She’s come back to this?”

He further stated: “It’s not a normal shoe, it’s steel. A kick naturally generates more force than a punch. The way it looks like it wasn’t just an assault. One of the victims actually mentioned that a police officer threatened to kill him”.

In a statement on Wednesday, Greater Manchester Police claimed three officers were assaulted during an arrest. Assistant Chief Constable Wasim Chaudhry said:

“One female officer suffered a broken nose and the other officers were forced to the ground and suffered injuries which required hospital treatment.”

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But Yakoob insisted those outraged by the incident were not against policing, only against sheer brutality. “We are for policing, we support policing, and we are proud to be part of the justice system in the UK. We don’t want to be justifying the actions of the police,” he said.

While the police officer has been suspended and the city’s mayor says the incident was not “clear-cut”, protests erupted in the city centre on Thursday.

written by Zahid Jadwat