This is the shocking moment a female police officer drags a rough sleeper across the ground and appears to stamp on his stomach.
The video, obtained by the BBC, shows a female Greater Manchester Police officer pulling the man’s sleeping bag across the street with him still in it.
In disturbing pictures that occurred last September outside Manchester Town Hall, she then appears to purposefully stamp on the man’s chest while grabbing him by the arms in an attempt to raise him off the ground.
After the horrifying event, the 31-year-old Sudanese refugee had injuries, and he subsequently had blood in his urine and a fever.
GMP said the officer’s actions ‘fell below the standard we expect’ and she had been ‘dealt with’ following the incident, which homeless charity Crisis described as ‘appalling and dehumanising’.
The 31-year-old stated in an interview with the BBC that he has been residing in the UK for the last three years and has been granted permission to stay here.
He clarified that, along with a number of other homeless immigrants, he was rough-sleeping near Manchester Town Hall and that municipal representatives would often wake him up each morning. However, this time it was a policeman.
The Sudanese man said, ‘We told them we had nowhere to go and that it was very cold. I was telling her I need to sleep.
‘But she stamped on my stomach with her foot. It caused me problems; I had a fever and in the following hours, I had blood in my urine.’
The man said the force has now apologised to him, and he has now found accommodation.
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, told the BBC: ‘It’s appalling to see such dehumanising treatment of people rough sleeping.
‘If the police behave in this way, how do we expect the public to improve the way they treat rough sleepers?
‘We know there’s a problem here, we know that people are regularly abused and that some awful things happen to people on the streets.’
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: ‘Greater Manchester Police was first made aware of this concerning video in around September last year.
‘The officer’s behaviour fell below the standard we expect, especially concerning respect for all members of the community, and the officer’s actions were dealt with.
‘The superintendent responsible for the city centre personally discussed the incident with the officer and made it clear that her actions were unacceptable and must not be repeated.
‘She, along with other employees, received refresher training on how to deal with similar situations in the future.’
The startling event occurs in the midst of a wave of rising mistreatment of rough sleepers in the United Kingdom.
Some people don’t think this man is human. Although I recognise that some people do not want immigrants in our nation, I believe that they should be treated with respect while they are here since they are humans.
Our government gives them the right to remain here in the UK, but sadly there is nowhere to house them.
Perhaps immigrants shouldn’t be here, but that doesn’t give us the right to treat them this way.
It doesn’t matter if this man was resisting or not. She ought to have been acting properly; no police officer should be stamping on someone’s stomach.
Although it’s obvious that some people believe that rough sleepers are less than human, you don’t treat individuals in this manner.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 