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A cricket star and racism whistleblower has described his horror over the Manchester Airport police incident in an exclusive interview with The Independent, accusing the police of “brutality”.
Former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq, 33, spoke out in the summer of 2020 about the racism he suffered as a cricket player and his harrowing testimony to a select committee in 2021 led to a major overhaul in the county’s leadership.
Footage filmed at the airport on Tuesday appeared to show a Greater Manchester Police officer kick and stamp on the head of an Asian man who was lying face down on the floor, with a woman, thought to be his mother, kneeling beside him.
“I found the footage incredibly triggering; not just me, but the whole community and the rest of my family,” Mr Rafiq, who’s of Pakistani heritage, told The Independent.
“It’s infuriating because that resonates, plus the way you get treated in airports generally, as a Muslim, since 9/11.
“The man could have died and looking at his mother in the clip reminded me of my own.”
The sportsman, who now lives in Dubai, added: “it will not surprise many people of colour who have had dealings with the police in this country.
“I have had dealings with the police around some of the death threats and attacks that were happening at my house and the lack of interest in protecting me and my family effectively, which is why I left the country.
“When that gentleman is on the floor defenceless, no context excuses that level of police brutality. Yet, you still have a lot of people defending that stuff which is the scary bit. It’s like business as usual.”
The airport video also appeared to show the officer, a white man, strike a second Asian man.
On Thursday, the family’s lawyer Akhmed Yakoob spoke on their behalf to media gathered at Rochdale police station – the scene of a protest the night before - and revealed that the man who was stomped on has a “brain cyst”.
Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, has met the with family and said they have appealed for “calm in all the communities”.
The family lawyer said Mohammed Fahir, 19, had undergone a CT scan following his head injuries and was “fighting for his life”, and that Fahir’s brother and 56-year-old mother were also assaulted at the airport.
The two men had arrived to pick up their mother who had flown in from Pakistan, he said.
Their elder brother, a serving officer with Greater Manchester Police, he added, was “too afraid” to go to work.
Mr Rafiq told The Independent that he is not optimistic that improvements will be made to policing following the incident and protests.
“In this country, we get these flash moments where there'll be a lot of outrage over these incidents over a few days, maybe a week or two, and then it'll be business as usual,” he explained.
“We seem to grapple with achieving change. You know, people get bored and move on with their lives, while people of colour are treated like this.
“We've seen these sorts of videos before and it doesn’t seem to matter. The change doesn't seem to get anywhere closer to change.”
Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice came under fire for describing the alarming footage as “reassuring”.
Referring to the remarks as “sickening”, Mr Rafiq added: “We've had members of parliament yesterday not only justifying it but actually advocating for that type of police response.
“As a person of colour, and given the current dynamics around Muslims in this country, it's a pretty scary place to be.”
Campaigners have expressed concern that the officer’s assault was racially motivated and steeped in Islamophobia which has increased across England and Wales in recent months.
Just last week, it emerged that seven Greater Manchester Police officers are being investigated over racism allegations, while recent Home Office figures suggest that Black and Asian people are more than twice as likely to experience forceful tactics by police in Greater Manchester as white people.
“The man could have died. It’s 2024 - we are 31 years on from Stephen Lawrence's murder which then led to the MacPherson report highlighting institutional racism within policing,” Mr Rafiq said.
“Yet, where are we? Not enough has changed. We’re becoming desensitised to violence in policing. There’s an attitude of “oh, another incident” and treated in such a blase manner.”
Mr Rafiq’s shocking revelations of the racism he endured at Yorkshire include being called the P-word, while derogatory terms for Asian people like “elephant washer” and “you lot” were frequently used.
“When you try and have a conversation with people about these things, it’s like they’re bored of hearing about it. Unfortunately we, as Asian and Black people, don’t have the privilege of being bored of racism.
“I saw it when I blew the whistle on racism in cricket; after all the promises, commitments and PR, nothing happens. The system then starts making victims feel like they’re the problem.”
Mr Rafiq called for support for the family, the cricketer said the IOPC probe should happen “quickly and independently”.
Greater Manchester Police was approached for comment.
