Greater Manchester Police officer drags homeless man along ground

Footage of a police officer dragging a rough sleeper along the ground was "unacceptable" and must not be repeated, police have said.

The officer was then seen deliberately treading on the man's stomach near Manchester town hall.

Homeless charity Crisis said the incident was "appalling and degrading".

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the incident "must not be repeated" after the video, obtained by BBC News, came to light.

GMP said the officer's behaviour, which took place last September, "fell below the standard we expect".

The man, a refugee from Sudan, was sleeping outside along with a group of other homeless refugees.

In an interview with BBC News, the 31-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he had been injured by the officer's actions.

He said: "I was telling her I need to sleep.

"But she stamped on my stomach with her foot.

"It caused me problems - I had a fever and in the following hours I had blood in my urine."

The man, who has been in the UK for three-and-a-half years and has been given the right to remain, said he was forced to go to hospital after the incident, but recovered.

He said they were usually woken each morning by council officials but on the day of the incident, "we told them we had nowhere to go and that it was very cold".

The police officer dragged the man who was in a sleeping bag

Matt Downie, chief executive Crisis, said the officer's actions were awful, adding: "It's appalling to see such dehumanising treatment of people rough sleeping.

"If the police behave in this way, how do we expect the public to improve the way they treat rough sleepers?

"We know there's a problem here, we know that people are regularly abused and that some awful things happen to people on the streets."

There has been a spate of incidents in recent months where rough sleepers have faced abuse.

In November a man sleeping in an underpass in Birmingham was set alight and in December footage emerged of security guards at a McDonald's restaurant in London soaking a rough sleeper.

'Very distressing'

Referring to the video of the police officer, the deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, Kate Green, said these were "clearly very distressing images".

She added: "We would expect anyone in a position of vulnerability to be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and the behaviour shown here runs completely counter to those expectations.

"Behaviour like this is plainly unacceptable and must not be allowed to happen again."

The Sudanese man who was dragged by the officer said he had now found accommodation and had received an apology from the force.

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In a statement GMP said: "The officer's behaviour fell below the standards we expect, especially concerning respect for all members of the community, and the officer's actions were dealt with.

"The superintendent responsible for the city centre personally discussed the incident with the officer and made it clear that her actions were unacceptable and must not be repeated.

"She, along with other employees, received refresher training on how to deal with similar situations in the future."