Manchester police taser man carrying crossbow and knife through city center

RT
Fri, 28 Jul 2017 09:15 UTC

© AFP

Mobile phone footage shows armed police arresting a man in Manchester on Thursday afternoon, who was reportedly carrying a crossbow and a knife through the city center.

Officers used a Taser and a baton launcher to detain the 30-year-old suspect. A police cordon was placed around his bag.

Following his arrest on suspicion of carrying offensive weapons, the suspect was taken to hospital, where he was treated for hand injuries.

Police were called to the scene on Tib Street at around 2:30pm local time, following reports of a man carrying weapons.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said authorities are following standard procedure. There is no indication that the incident was terrorism related.

The city is on high alert in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing, which occurred on May 22. Twenty-three people were killed and 250 others injured in that attack, after 22-year-old Salman Abedi detonated a shrapnel-laden device inside the venue.

British authorities are particularly alert to lone-wolf knife and vehicle attacks, like those which struck Westminster and London Bridge earlier this year.

Comment: London police have noted a surge in knife crimes as a 'culture of knife carrying' has taken hold among young people:

Last week, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed that London has seen a 24 percent rise in bladed attacks. There were a total of 12,021 in 1016 - 2,327 more than the previous year.

Over a two-week period in June, 11 people died as a result of knife attacks. The two youngest victims were just 17 years old.

This is despite efforts by the London Metropolitan Police to clamp down on knife crime.

During a visit to a community centre in Putney in May, Met Commissioner Cressida Dick was told by one resident that even small children are carrying bladed weapons.

"On the housing estate, it's six-year-olds that are carrying knives, because they think they won't be stopped. You need to start there, in the primary schools - you need to tell much younger people," the anonymous resident said.