The 2024 Manchester Airport brawl took place on July 23, 2024, when an altercation transpired in the Manchester Airport, a regional airport servicing the greater Manchester region of the United Kingdom. The fight involved two brothers, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz and Muhammad Amaad, and three Greater Manchester Police officers who the brothers allegedly assaulted.[1]
The brothers claimed that they were acting in self-defense. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz was convicted of assault in 2025.[2] The incident was captured on CCTV camera and police body camera. The footage showed officers, responding to a call about an alleged assault on a civilian, attempting to handcuff Amaaz. This resulted in Amaad attacking the police. Amaad punched them ten times before being tased. Amaaz also started punching the police, striking them multiple times. Both men were taken into custody on the scene.[3]
The footage appeared to show an armed officer stomping and kicking the head of one the brothers who was lying on the ground. The incident sparked heated reactions in British society, making many people accuse Manchester police of racism. Nationwide protests were held in response. The officer was temporarily suspended from his job.[4][5] Three officers were injured as a result of the incident,[6] and misinformation about officers' injuries and Islamophobic comments were made online.[7]
The story received widespread coverage in media, being reported by One News, Al-Jazeera English and CNN. British political figures, like Tommy Robinson and George Galloway, reacted to the incident on social media. Reform UK member Lee Anderson showed his support for the officer who kicked the man in the head. Reform UK said that they would file lawsuits against the men if GMP refused to file charges against them.[8][9] Prime minister Keir Starmer also reacted to the incident.[10]
Incident
On July 23, 2024, at approximately 7:20 p.m., a fight was reported involving multiple passengers of Qatar Airways flight QR023 in Manchester Airport. A second call about the altercation was made at 8:20 p.m., claiming it had occurred in Starbucks of the airport's terminal two. A third call about the incident was made at 8:30 p.m. in car park area of the airport. The police arrived to the scene and found the two brothers, 25-year old Muhammed Amaad, 20-year old Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, as well as the mother of the duo, 56-year old Shameem Akhtar.[11][12] The altercation was caused by an argument that ensued between the brothers and an alleged victim, known as Ismaeil, who was head butted and punched twice by one of the brothers. Police officers Lydia Ward and Zachary Marsden were informed over the radio that the brother who head butted Ismaeil was wearing a blue tracksuit.[13] The officers headed to the terminal's car park payment station to make an arrest.[14] The officers tried to move Amaaz away from the payment station in order to handcuff him, but he resisted. As they were struggling, Amaad started attacking the officers, kicking and punching officer Marsden six times. Amaaz broke free from the police and started attacking them, delivering ten punches to multiple officers, including one to the face of Lydia Ward. Amaaz put his arm on Marsden's neck from behind as he fell on the ground, resulting in Marsden deploying a taser against him.[15]
Footage from the scene also showed Amaaz striking firearms officer Cook two times with his elbow before being tased. As he was on the ground, officer Marsden kicked him in the head. Marsden justified this action in court, saying Amaaz was not listening to his commands to put his arms behind his back and was trying to get up so he had to "stun" him by striking his face.[3] While the officer was kicking Amaaz's face, some bystanders were heard shouting; "stop kicking people," another said; "move back".[16] Amaaz's mother tried to protect him by shielding his head with her hand. A nearby bystander filming the event was pepper sprayed.[17] The officer was seen kicking other brother in the head.[18] Body camera footage from the scene showed officer Ward, who was unarmed during the fight, crying as blood dripped from her face. It was later confirmed that she suffered a broken nose.[19][20]
A CT scan after incident revealed that Amaaz suffered a cyst in his brain. His lawyer said that he was "fighting for his life" in the hospital. Akhtar was also injured during the fight.[21][22] She was reportedly whipped by a taser and suffered bleeding in her cheek.[23] On that day, four men, including the two brothers,[9] were arrested at the airport. Two men were arrested for "assault of an emergency worker" while the other two were arrested for "suspicion of affray and assault".[16] Three officers were injured, and suffered various head injuries.[6]
In August 2025, Amaaz, Amaad, Akhtar and their lawyer Aamer Anwar held a press conference and spoke with journalists.[24] The lawyer told the press the family's version of the incident. He stated that the incident began when Akhtar was called racial slurs by a man sitting in her departure lounge. She was distressed and tried to move away from him, He reportedly followed her for multiple hours. After she boarded the flight, the man bumped his luggage into Akhtar. Akhtar's sons were sent to pick her and her six-year-old grandson up. Her sons confronted the man, who started arguing with the brothers after he laughed in their faces. The family then went to the car park to pay for a parking space, where they encountered police. The police grabbed Amaaz by the head and slammed him into the ticket machine, not making any attempts to communicate with him. The officer then grabbed him by the neck, to which Amaad asked the officer to stop, but was punched twice and tased. Amaaz ran at the officers but was also tased and fell. His head was then stomped on by the officer. The officer then kicked Amaad before whipping his head with a taser. The lawyer stated an officer told Amaad: "You dirty fucking cunt, you think you can hit my officers. I am going to kill you when I see you, in my uniform or out". He said Akhtar had been hit with the taser in the face during the scuffle and started bleeding from her cheek, and she was left lying on the ground before being helped by a stranger.[23][25]
Legal proceedings
Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) made a statement on July 25, 2024, saying that they have opened a criminal investigation and intend to interrogate the officer who kicked the man in the head "as soon as possible".[26] The statement noted that the investigation does not mean they will pursue criminal charges against the officers.[27]Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the arrested brothers were released after paying bail, but gave no information on their health. GMP described the incident as "truly shocking".[18] One of the officers involved was suspended from his duties, and a second was investigated for assault.[28]
On August 1, 2024, a lawyer representing the brothers contacted IOPC to file a complaint against the officers. On August 8, IOPC began investigating an officer for gross misconduct and assault.[28] On December 20, 2024, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charged the brothers with multiple crimes. Amaaz was charged with two counts of "causing actual bodily harm", one count of "assaulting an emergency worker" and one count of "common assault" while Amaad was charged with one count of "causing actual bodily harm".[29] CPS had decided that they will not charge any officers involved in the incident as they doubt they have enough evidence.[30]
On July 5, 2025, the first day of the trial began in Crown Court. The jury was shown videos of the incident as evidence, and the brothers told the jury that they were acting in self defense.[31] In a hearing on July 9, pictures of injuries that the brothers' mother suffered were shown to the court. Officer Marsden was present in the courtroom. He reportedly stated that there was no evidence that his actions caused the injuries, and that Amaad may have accidentally punched her during the scuffle.[32] During a hearing on July 10, officer Ward told the court that she was "absolutely terrified" after being punched by the brothers and that she never experienced such violence in her life.[33] During a July 24 hearing, the prosecutor said the brothers used a "high level of violence" against the officers, and that one of them being kicked was irrelevant to their actions.[34]
On July 31, Amaaz was found guilty of assaulting officer Ward, officer Cook and civilian Ismaeil. He was not convicted of assaulting officer Marsden because jurors could not agree on a verdict.[5] The jury was not able to reach an agreement on Amaad's assault charge either, and the brothers will be retried on the charges in the future. Following the verdict, Amaaz was arrested in the courtroom, where he was then taken to jail to await his sentence.[35][36]
Akhmed Yakoob, former lawyer for the brothers, was charged with money laundering in July, with the court saying he "wanted help to launder cash of millions of pounds".[37][38] In August 2025, a leaked CCTV camera footage of the altercation was made public by Manchester Evening News. The footage was longer than the previous one and showed more context behind the incident. That same month, IOPC confirmed that they have started a criminal investigation on an alleged officer who leaked the video. Mayor Andy Burnham said he was concerned about the legality of releasing the footage to the public.[39][40] In response to the investigation, an op-ed by MEN writer Sarah Lester was published, saying that investigating the alleged leak is a "bad decision" and that many high-profile figures of the Manchester community and police were grateful for the video and thanked the newspaper.[41]
Reactions
Footage of the incident was released to the public in the following days, and quickly became popular on social media. Users showed largely negative reactions, condemning the officers and accusing them of police brutality. Dal Babu, former police superintendent, was interviewed by BBC Radio 4 and said that the officers used excessive force and racism influenced their actions.[42] The video footage of the altercation received word wide recognition, with news outlets like CNN, Al-Jazeera English, and One News covering the story.[8]
Two days after the incident, far-right activist Tommy Robinson and politician George Galloway posted the footage of the incident on social media. Politician Lee Anderson of Reform UK supported the officer and said he would "give him a medal".[8]Muslim Council of Britain and Muslim Engagement and Development condemned the incident.[43] On July 25, 2024, a protest in response to the incident was organized near GMP police station, over 200 people participated. The protesters shouted "GMP shame on you".[44] They held signs reading "GMP is racist" and "Black Lives Matter".[38] On July 26, Akhmed Yakoob, lawyer of the brothers' family, was interviewed by LBC News. He compared the incident to an "attempted assassination".[45] That phrase, along with him claiming Amaaz was "fighting for his life", caused him to face criticism. On July 29, he announced his retirement from his position, claiming the media tried to "sabotage" him.[46]
Politician Paul Waugh of Co-operative Party said he spoke with family members of the brothers and condemned the involved police. Akhmed Yakoob also condemned the officers and accused them of police brutality.[47] Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham urged the protesters to remain calm, describing the incident as "complicated" that has "issues for both sides." He later discussed the incident with IOPC and politician Yvette Cooper of Labour Party.[48] Prime minister Keir Starmer also reacted to the incident, saying he watched the footage and "understands the public's concern".[10]Shaista Gohir called the incident an "example of police brutality".[49] In August 2024, the family of the brothers claimed they experienced "racist and Islamophobic" attacks on social media and are "traumatized".[50] On October 7, 2024, multiple parliament members of Reform UK said that they are going to sue Amaaz and Amaad if the police decided not to press charges against them and that they will use crowdfunding to fund prosecutor for the case.[51] Lawyer Akhmed Yakoob responded to Reform UK's comments, saying; "If Reform want to pursue a private prosecution, I for one would gladly see them lose thousands of pounds".[52]
Misinformation was spread on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook following the incident.[53] One example was a post claiming to show a photo of female officer's nose injuries from the brawl. The photo was real, but was taken in 2020 in Leicestershire during a separate incident where a female officer was also punched in the face. One post featuring the misleading photo gathered 600,000 views. The photo had been reposted more than a hundred times on Twitter and Facebook. Islamophobic comments were also made, with one user blaming "the religion of peace" for the officers' injuries.[7][54] A Facebook comment criticizing the brothers made by a 56-year old Preston College teacher led to an investigation and ultimately being fired from his job for "gross misconduct." He sued the college in response.[55] Leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, had condemned the "misinformation" linked with the incident. The party's officials said GMP did not release the footage of the altercation immediately in order to create a "false impression" of officers attacking the brothers first, leading to protests of the false accusations and misinformation against them.[56]
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