A 13-year-old girl from the traveller community ended up “hysterical” in Grimsby after police forced her and other young people onto a train, her mother has said.
The teen and her 15-year-old brother were among youngsters to be herded onto trains at Victoria railway station as part of a police dispersal order which was designed to prevent trouble in Manchester city centre. Eventually, the teens ended up in Grimsby – and their mum, who declined to be identified, said her daughter was left traumatised over the incident.
She said the girl was “hysterical” when she called from the railway station as she was being escorted onto the train with others. The brother and sister had travelled from Doncaster earlier that day. Greater Manchester Police has defended its actions in the wake of criticism from parents of some of the children involved.
While her children were heading to Manchester, the mother described how she went to the Trafford Centre so she could be close by in case they needed help. She told the Manchester Evening News: “I was in there literally five minutes when my little girl calls me hysterical saying she’s being pushed onto the train.
“She didn’t have a clue where it was going. She was crying and screaming. I could hear the police officers saying ‘we don’t care where you go, just get back on that train and get off now’. I was saying to put the police officers on the phone but I could hear them saying ‘I don’t want to speak to your mother – get on that train’.”
The mother said it was only during the train journey that her children learned the train was heading to Grimsby. Once they arrived in Grimsby, they got another train back to Doncaster where she picked them up at about 9pm on Saturday night, the mother added.
(
Dave Skerton)
Asked how her children were feeling, the woman said: “My little boy is just a little bit upset. He’s more angry as to why it happened. But my little girl never ever wants to be in that situation again. It’s scared her and she never wants to leave her mum and dad.”
When it was suggested to her that police say they were acting to prevent trouble in the city centre, she said: “That’s bulls**t! How can they say everybody coming into Manchester yesterday was going to cause trouble. If they have photographs and evidence of certain people coming into Manchester to cause trouble, fair enough.
“Get them back on the train. But not innocent kids. And they were only targeting the travelling community. And yet again they will get away with it. My kids have never been in trouble in their lives. We have been discriminated against once again. But this time it wasn’t against adults. It was against pure innocent kids.”
On Sunday afternoon, a senior police officer from GMP vowed to “address” the concerns of parents from traveller communities. Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson spoke out after the deputy mayor of Greater Manchester Kate Green asked GMP “for a full report on the action taken.”
The force has been accused of a “heavy-handed and discriminatory action” by The Traveller Movement, a national charity, which described the incident as “shocking” and “completely unacceptable”. Assistant Chief Constable Jackson said in a statement: “We are aware of social media videos circulating, and comments from the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities concerning our policing of a dispersal order in Manchester city centre yesterday.
“Our priority is always to protect public safety by preventing incidents of violence and disorder. Due to intelligence of groups causing anti-social behaviour on trains on the way into Manchester and similar reports rising around the city centre, alongside increasing footfall, we issued a dispersal order. This included plans for officers to re-route arriving groups back home.
“Shortly after, officers responded to several disturbances in the city centre and intervened in altercations between groups. 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.”
(
Dave Skerton)
When asked for comment on the criticism from parents, a Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “We are responding to reports of hundreds of youths gathering in Manchester city centre and causing disturbances for retail staff and patrons of the markets. Additional powers have been authorised enabling officers to manage groups involved in anti-social behaviour more effectively, and so far, we have issued 40 dispersal orders which instructs someone likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to leave an area immediately.”
The dispersal order, signed by a senior police officer at 12.13pm on Saturday, gives Greater Manchester Police extra powers to order people to leave the city and lock them up if they refuse. The order was ‘in response to a rising number of reports and in the interest of protecting the public from excessive anti-social behaviour, disorder, and criminality over the weekend’, said the officer who signed it.
Superintendent Phil Spurgeon, of GMP’s specialist operations unit, said on Saturday: “We are monitoring and managing a significant increase in footfall across Manchester City Centre and throughout our districts with groups of youth gathering together and causing disturbances. I have authorised a dispersal order under S34 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act across all Greater Manchester.
“This is in response to a rising number of reports and in the interest of protecting the public from excessive anti-social behaviour, disorder, and criminality over the weekend. This order should help visitors travel across GM with ease and enable residents to go about their daily activities.
“There will be an increase in police presence with neighbourhood officers deployed. If you have any concerns, please do approach them, they are there to keep you safe. If you see anything suspicious report it to police on 101. Always dial 999 in an emergency.”
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