The Mancunian Way: 'You'd think we'd killed someone'

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Kids being blocked from going to the Christmas markets. Children as young as 12 being ‘forced’ onto trains out of the city.

They’re some of the claims that have been levelled at GMP as the force was accused of 'heavy-handed and discriminatory action' against Gypsy and Traveller children in Manchester city centre over the weekend. Videos seen by the Manchester Evening News appear to show children and young adults, many of them girls in dresses, being met by officers on a platform at Victoria station, who then usher them onto trains.

Girls can be overheard shouting they don't know where they are going. "You'd think we'd killed someone," one girl is heard to shout.

One mother, who asked not to be named, described how her daughter was left crying and 'hysterical' after police forced her and other young people from the traveller community onto trains heading out of Manchester without knowing the destination. The girl, aged 13, and her 15-year-old brother were among scores of youngsters who were herded onto trains as part of a police 'dispersal order' issued early on Saturday afternoon that was designed to prevent trouble in the city centre.

Sarah Smith, from Stoke-on-Trent, said her daughters - aged 21 and 14 - were also caught up in the incidents. "They've just come here to go shopping,” she said. “It was a day at the markets and visit family and friends and do a little bit of Christmas shopping. This is not the way to treat the travelling community."

The Traveller Movement, a national charity, said it was a 'shocking' and 'completely unacceptable' case. Report Racism GRT, a hate incident reporting organisation for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families, claimed some younger children were 'separated from their siblings'.

In a statement yesterday Kate Green, deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, said she has asked GMP 'for a full report on the action taken' and would also be holding a meeting of community leaders. She confirmed she had watched the footage and said she 'expects the police to treat everyone fairly and with respect'.

GMP Assistant chief constable Rick Jackson said the dispersal order was issued due to ‘intelligence of groups causing anti-social behaviour on trains on the way into Manchester and similar reports rising around the city centre’. He said the order ‘included plans for officers to re-route arriving groups back home’ and that police also responded to ‘several disturbances’ in the city centre and ‘intervened in altercations between groups’.

AAC Jackson added: “We understand there are feelings of mistreatment and confusion amongst the groups of people for being turned away yesterday, and we are determined to address these concerns by working closely with the Mayor’s office to engage these communities in Manchester and further afield.”

John Scheerhout and Paul Britton have more here…

Weather etc

Tuesday: Light showers changing to sunny intervals by late morning, 7C.

Travel warning: Transport bosses have issued a travel warning as Manchester City's Champions League tie with Feyenoord clashes with a gig by London-based heavy metal band Sleep Token at Co-op Live tomorrow night.

Manchester headlines

Search continues: A desperate search to find a missing Rochdale man was continuing this afternoon. Nathaniel, whose last name has not been given, was last seen in the Roch Valley area of Heywood at around 9am on Sunday. Yesterday, emergency crews took part in a huge search at the River Roch to try and locate him.

Triple stabbing: Two teenagers and one man have been rushed to hospital following a triple stabbing in Piccadilly Gardens late on Saturday night. Two teens, aged 17 and 18, were rushed to hospital after police found them 'seriously injured', while a 20-year-old man later turned up at hospital with a stab wound police believe to be sustained during the same incident. More here

Fines: More than 100 drivers will receive fines after emergency crews were delayed - because selfish motorists were stopped in the hard shoulder. Greater Manchester Police said emergency services were slowed while attending an incident at junction four of the M56 on Sunday - and vowed to take action against those responsible.

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