It was an explosive situation that demanded calm – and at the heart of it were a few seconds of video footage.
In scenes now seen millions of times, an armed police officer is seen kicking someone in the head in a car park at Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport.
What drove the officer to behave this way? And what did it reveal about our city and our society?
READ MORE: Manchester Airport images: the unanswered questions
These big, troubling questions had been hanging over the images from the very beginning. And they needed to be answered – and fast.
On Saturday, we made the decision to release a 39-second video, which helped fill in the gaps in a dramatic incident that at times threatened to explode into serious unrest.
This new video, obtained exclusively by the MEN, shows some of what happened in the crucial seconds leading up to the scenes that have sparked so much concern and anger.
What the new footage appears to show is violence erupting between two men, a police officer and two policewomen during an arrest at the airport.
In the video, several punches appear to be thrown by the two men involved, with one female officer being knocked to the ground while being punched in the face.
Like everything surrounding this incident, these images required careful handling. But it was our duty to ensure they were released. And in today’s newsletter, we explain why.
The last few days have seen events that concern all those who cherish unity and harmony in our city. In the city centre, after video of the alleged road markings went viral, protesters blocked tram lines and roads outside the offices of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
In Rochdale, where the man who appears to have been beaten in the video lives, hundreds of people gathered outside a police station.
As tensions rose, outside agitators tried to exploit the fallout on social media.
Amidst all this, there is one thing missing: the full story of what happened. And our reporters are trying to piece it all together from the very beginning.
“One of the big questions was what happened before that,” says MEN editor Amanda Crook, referring to the alleged kick shown in the first video.
“We are more aware than anyone that excerpts from footage can be misleading by omission.
“A lot of people had a particular impression after seeing the first images,” Amanda says. “It wasn’t about correcting that, but about being able to provide the most complete picture possible.”
As tensions rose last week, conversations with Greater Manchester Police gave us a clue that there may be more to the incident.
Andy Burnham, who oversees GMP, said what happened at the airport was not a “clear picture” after seeing the full footage leading up to the incident.
We were the first publication to publish the first 30-second video clip of the incident – all that was available at the time – last Tuesday.
Then, on Thursday, we learned about surveillance cameras that gave us a more complete picture. The next day, we were able to understand in detail what this other clip showed and we received a description, confirmed by a reliable source.
On Saturday, we exclusively obtained these crucial new images. Alongside the editorial team, MEN journalists John Scheerhout and Ashlie Blakey worked to successfully verify them.
“Our priority has always been not to interfere with the legal proceedings that have already started or that may take place,” Amanda said. “(But) especially given the fallout from the first images, it was really important that we tried to show as much as possible.”
Our team spoke with legal advisors to determine if, and how, to publish it.
“We decided to continue because we felt that what was being shown was too important to ignore and it was being shared so widely,” Amanda said. “We felt like the images we initially shared were a very incomplete picture.”
“We were aware that this situation was not going to stop. People were still very angry and worried.”
One of the main concerns was to protect the identities of the people in the images, some of whom were reportedly under threat, so we decided to blur their faces.
“We took this responsibility very seriously,” Amanda explained. “We talked a lot about the right way to go about it.”
“Our intention has always been to publish the facts, for as long as we can safely do so. While we believe this is a very important piece of information, we don’t have the full picture yet. We don’t have the audio and we know from the police that there have been two other incidents that they have appealed for.”
“We’re also very proud that our community members reached out to us,” Amanda adds. “We believe we received this footage because we handled the first video responsibly and because we have a reputation for posting responsibly in general.”
“It shows that they trust us and we believe it is because we tried to handle the situation carefully.
“Our reporters and photographers demonstrated incredible professionalism throughout this mission. It is not easy to report on the divisions that exist in your own community but, as always, they performed brilliantly and we are very proud of them.”
When the images were published on Saturday night, every national newspaper and broadcaster in the country followed suit. Our role in publishing these images was part of our duty to keep our readers informed by providing fair and balanced reporting and working to ensure calm within our community.
The work of a journalist can involve complex ethical issues, which must be balanced against your right to information as a member of a free and democratic society.
We couldn’t hide the first video. And we couldn’t hide the second one either. The stakes are too high.
While the release of the second video has shed light on what happened last week, questions remain about the actions of the officer involved. The Independent Office for Police Conduct said the officer was under criminal investigation for assault, but stressed that did not necessarily mean criminal charges would be brought.
What these new images highlight is the need to establish the full picture before jumping to conclusions. This sentiment was echoed by Andy Burnham, who said lessons can be learned from “rushing to judgment” about what you see in a clip shared on social media.
This tension was felt within GMP itself. The MEN has learned that in the days after the first images were released, armed police officers based at the airport were furious at the treatment of their suspended colleague and had openly discussed handing in their weapons as part of a protest, before being dissuaded by management.
Over the weekend, GMP also appealed for information about three incidents that allegedly preceded the man being kicked in the head. Meanwhile, Akhmed Yakoob, the Birmingham-based lawyer representing the family involved in the incident, announced he was stepping down.
This week has been one that will provoke soul-searching across the city — and beyond. The images may be unprecedented, but the cracks they have exposed — in justice, in the reasonable use of force, and in the trust that communities can place in police officers to police them fairly and without bias — are not.
