Greater Manchester Police revealed it dispersed a “large scale fight” involving more than 100 young people in Manchester city centre last Friday.
Giving further insight into the nature of the event, GMP explained in a statement that officers were called to the city centre hub of Piccadilly Gardens at 5pm last night (Friday 14 January), where there had been reports by members of the public of a disturbance involving a large number of young people.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found that a group of around 100 young people – mostly school children – were fighting.
GMP said that during the incident, a number of missiles were thrown at officers, and that some specialist police equipment had also been damaged beyond repair.
A 16-year-old was arrested on suspicion of affray, and has been released under investigation.
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Following the event, GMP confirmed that from 5:30pm on Friday 14 January, a Section 35 Dispersal Order was put in place on Piccadilly Gardens and the surrounding area for 48 hours – which has now been lifted after it ended at the same time yesterday evening (Sunday 16 January).
This order allowed officers the power to “direct anyone within that public place to leave”.
Photo and video footage from the scene as it happened has been widely shared on social media over the weekend.
“This kind of anti-social behaviour, which caused a huge amount of disruption for members of the public trying to get home on a Friday, as well as businesses, will not be tolerated,” said Superintendent Helen Critchley from GMP’s City of Manchester District.
“I acknowledge that a lot of those involved are young, and may have been easily swept up in what was happening, however due to the disruption caused, we will be working to identify all those involved using CCTV as well as officer’s body worn video footage, and hold them accountable.
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“It’s worth noting that a number of those involved were wearing school uniform at the time.”
GMP is urging anyone who know may have seen anything that could help with its enquiries, or potentially have CCTV or DashCam footage of the area at the time, to get in touch quoting log number 2054 of 14/01/22.
You can do so either via LiveChat on the GMP website, or call 101.
Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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News
Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
The Manc -
17th January 2022 
