Nigel Farage has claimed the failure to bring charges against youths involved in a brawl at Manchester Airport after four months is an example of ‘two tier policing’.
The Reform UK leader compared the absence of charges following July’s incident to the ‘immediacy’ of action against those who rioted after the Southport stabbings.
Branding PM Sir Keir Starmer as ‘two tier Kier’, Mr Farage told a podcast: ‘If that’s not two tier policing and two tier justice under two tier Keir, I don’t know what is.’
The Clacton MP, as revealed by the Mail On Sunday, is set to mount a private prosecution against those involved in the Manchester Airport chaos, which led to protests about ‘police brutality’.
He is expected to announce the move tomorrow to highlight what he claims is Right-wing activists being singled out by the courts for harsher treatment.
Footage of a fracas at Manchester Airport on 23 July, which went viral earlier this year, appeared to show a police officer stamping on the head of Fahir Amaaz, 19.
It came as he and his brother Muhammed Ahmaad, 25, were restrained by fellow officers. But further footage emerged days later which showed the immediate build-up to the incident.
This included two female police officers being hit to the ground – with one left with a broken nose – before Fahir was incapacitated with a Taser.
The incident prompted an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Tensions were raised further when the brothers’ lawyer Akhmed Yakoob claimed the fracas had been an ‘attempted assassination’, triggering anti-police protests in the their home town of Rochdale.
Four months later, with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) apparently no closer to announcing charges against the brothers, Mr Farage has hired two solicitors to look into bringing a case against them.
A source close to Mr Farage said: ‘It is now November, and no charges have been laid – yet those on the Right of the arguments who said unpleasant things on social media and took to the streets found themselves in jail almost instantly.
‘We have a two tier justice system in this country’.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by former Mumford & Sons guitarist Winston Marshall, Mr Farage contrasted the lack of CPS action over the Manchester Airport incident to the swift crackdown on those involved in widespread street disorder this summer.
Quizzed about his frequent claims of ‘two tier policing’ in Britain, he told the Winston Marshall Show: ‘What has happened to the Manchester attackers back in July, before Southport?
‘We get violent yobbery in Manchester Airport, police are violently attacked, a police woman has her nose broken. Police then regain control of the situation.
‘All you see is a video of a police officer stamping on somebody. Well, of course he was stamping on him, he had a gun in his hand.
‘If you have a gun in your hand you do not engage an assailant with your other arm in case you lose the gun.
‘It looked awful because Manchester Police didn’t release the rest of it.’
He added: ‘We are now in the middle of November and the CPS have laid no charges. Compare that to the immediacy of the arrests and sentencing after Southport.
‘If that’s not two tier policing and two tier justice under two tier Keir, I don’t know what is.’
Three young girls were stabbed to death in Southporton 29 July, which sparked violent disorder across the UK.
Sir Keir vowed swift justice for those involved in rioting in a bid to prevent further disorder.
Hundreds of people were subsequently arrested, charged and prosecuted over the disorder, with many sent to jail.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson told today: ‘We are considering material and are providing advice in relation to a series of alleged criminal offences at Manchester Airport in July this year.
‘We are working with Greater Manchester Police and the Independent Office for Police Conduct while their enquiries continue.’
Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions and head of the CPS, previously said a ‘swift and unambigious response’ to the summer riots was ‘the only way to bring widespread disorder under control’.
In a newspaper article in August, he also dismissed claims of ‘two tier policing’, adding: ‘Talk of a one-sided approach is unfounded.
‘Those needing proof need only look at the violent and disorderly so-called ‘counter-protestors’ who we charged and prosecuted with the same even-handed professionalism as the mob they claimed to oppose.
‘The CPS prosecutes people who break the law – irrespective of background or political affiliation.
‘This is why we are independent from government. It is central to who we are. Some may ask why all crime isn’t punished so briskly. Some cases take longer because they are complex.’
The storm over the Manchester Airport incident led to fears the officers involved could have to go into hiding as the protests grew – two were suspended over the outcry and it is understood they still are.
The CCTV footage shows Fahir punching a female police officer in the face, breaking her nose, before knocking down a second woman officer while his brother throws a barrage of ‘full-blooded’ punches at an armed male officer, leaving him stunned and slumped on the floor.
Fahir also punched the male officer and grabbed him by the neck in a ‘chokehold’, which he released only when a female officer Tasered him.
A well-informed source told The Mail on Sunday that after a ‘violent altercation’ at a Starbucks coffee shop within the airport, three officers tried to arrest Fahir as he used a car park ticket machine; he was shown resisting before Amaad throws a barrage of punches at the male police officer, who crumpled on to a row of metal seats.
Fahir was then shown lashing out, first punching one female officer in the side of the head and then smashing the second woman officer in the face, knocking her off her feet and leaving her sprawled on the floor.
The second female officer suffered a broken nose. Footage also showed Fahir throwing at least another four punches at the first female officer, who was knocked to her knees.
By this point the male officer had got back to his feet and was aiming his Taser at Amaad.
Fahir, however, is shown charging into the back of the male officer, punching him in the head then grabbing him around the neck. It is claimed the male officer suffered a suspected broken jaw and may have been temporarily knocked out.
The fight ended only when the first female officer staggered back to her feet and fired her Taser at Fahir, which knocked him over.
It was at this point – as seen by millions in the mobile phone footage – that the male police officer kicks Fahir in the head and apparently stamps on him as he lies on the floor.
The CPS has the power to prevent a private prosecution by taking it over and discontinuing it – but such a move would be highly controversial in this case.