Boxer Amir Khan and his wife Faryaal Makhdoom have expressed their outrage at a video showing a young Asian man being kicked and punched in the head by a Greater Manchester Police officer.
The incident at Manchester Airport on Tuesday (23 July) sparked protests among the local community. Hundreds gathered outside a police station in Rochdale overnight, chanting “Shame on you”. The officer in the video has since been suspended from all duties.
Khan, who also hails from the north of England and is of British-Pakistani descent, condemned the police actions and expressed his disgust at the footage.
“I saw a video today and it’s pretty disgusting,” he began in a post to his 2 million followers on X/Twitter.
“Three or four police officers grab a couple of young children, probably just coming off the plane, and give them a good beating.”
GMP said its officers were called to the airport’s Terminal 2 following reports of a fight in which both officers and members of the public sustained injuries.
Model and entrepreneur Faryaal expressed her anger at the events, writing: “Police officers? Or a bunch of cowards? Since Israel, things have gotten worse. It’s almost normal to harass Muslims and be openly racist.”
In a comment on another video, the mother of two wrote: “This has to stop!” and “How dare they behave like this. Disgraceful, disgusting!”
Khan continued: “This is the first time I’ve seen a video like this where police officers aren’t even asking questions, they’re just hitting and stomping on the heads of these two young Asian boys, and the mother is watching right there.”
Many reacted with dismay to the footage of an elderly woman apparently crouching down to protect the head of one of the young men who was lying on his stomach.
“I mean, it’s disgusting to see a video like that. It makes you afraid to come to the UK,” said Khan, who splits his time between Bolton and Dubai.
“And not only that. Imagine what the mother went through.”
He called for tough police action and the dismissal of the officers involved in the incident.
“They need to be sacked, people like that need to be informed and put in their place, even if they are police officers. What they did there was wrong. It’s sad to see, I hope the guys are OK. I don’t know why they were arrested but look, this kind of thing shouldn’t be happening in the UK and it’s so disgusting.”
GMP issued a statement on Wednesday (24 July) saying it understood the public’s “great concern”.
Many have expressed outrage at the viral video and condemned the police for “police brutality”, including Rochdale MP Paul Waugh, who described the footage as “truly shocking and disturbing”. Broadcaster Jeremy Kyle described the incident as “massively brutal”.
