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POLICE IN MANCHESTER have apologised after a man was shown shouting an Islamic religious phrase during a mock terror attack.
The trial run of a terror attack was taking place in the city’s Trafford Centre and was aimed at giving emergency services a chance to deal with a simulated situation.
To begin the training a man posing as a suicide bomber entered through the front of the shopping centre and shouted “Allahu Akbar”, before detonating an explosion pack around five feet away from where he was standing – something aimed at replicating a suicide bomb attack.
Following footage of the incident being broadcast this morning, commentators took to social media to question why it was necessary for the phrase to be used.
Greater Manchester Police swiftly responded to the incident, saying that the “exercise is based on a suicide attack by an extremist Daesh-style organisation and the scenario writers have centred the circumstances around previous similar attacks of this nature.”
However, on reflection we acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam. We recognise and apologise for the offence that this has caused.
Images released earlier of the the exercise show that it was carried out with startling realism.
More than five months planning had gone into the trial run, and local residents were warned beforehand to expect loud noises and emergency service activity in the area.
Around 800 volunteers were involved.
What the inside of the Trafford Centre looks like on a normal day Dave Thompson / PA Wire
Dave Thompson / PA Wire / PA Wire
Hundreds of volunteers – covered in blood and screaming for realism – are seen in the footage rushing around the shopping centre in groups to flee from the attacker.
Sean Hansford / PA Wire
Sean Hansford / PA Wire / PA Wire
The only thing signposting that the event wasn’t for real were the red ear-mufflers being worn – used to protect volunteers against the noise of the blank rounds being fired by police.
The exercise got underway at midnight last night and is part of three days of practice for Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue and the North West Ambulance Service.
Sky News
Sky News
The Trafford Centre is the second largest in the United Kingdom, and will open for business as usual this morning.
Further training exercises will take place today and tomorrow at locations across the north west of England.
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I still wear a mask, just because you’re vaccinated doesn’t mean you should take chances, there are still people everyday in my local shop going in unmasked which pisses me off .
@Robert Clifford: 1 in 20 people diagnosed with covid have been fully vaccinated. Half of those who got covid have long term effects on health. So no if you are vaccinated you aren’t safe for yourself or those around you. Wear a mask, very very very simple.
@Nigel Hayden: Not wearing masks indoors is pure selfishness, that includes the wan’s who’s masks are deliberately worn incorrectly, people who cant wear masks can always wear face shields.
@Graham McNamara: yes that is possible. The reality doesn’t change because you don’t like it. They introduced safety belts and people have to use them all the time, you brush your teeth daily, you eat daily…. Risks do not disappear because you couldn’t be bothered
Mask wearing in Ireland is slipping and mask wearing should slip to the point where you should be old enough and responsible enough to make a choice as to whether you would feel more comfortable wearing one in any given surrounding. Let’s call a spade a spade here. Nobody wants or likes wearing them. They serve very little purpose and only symbolise quite frankly a daft adherence to a set of rules that nobody on either side of the fence has any real grasp of.
@Robert Clifford: you don’t get to make the choice for me and you don’t see how selfish your view is because you don’t like restrictions. Luckily dangers like fires have visible light and heat to stop you sitting on a fire.
@Robert Clifford: in fairness you don’t need to be “an oracle” to find fault and see the bs in your comments on this app. Just a basic grasp of science will do.
@Robert Clifford: masks reduce spread, it’s as simple as that. Your complete ignorance of the science on the issue isn’t a defense 16 months into this.
@Robert Clifford: honestly, your understanding the of the issue is child-like.
“you should be old enough and responsible enough to make a choice as to whether you would feel more comfortable wearing one in any given surrounding”. Thats like telling a child they can pee anywhere they like so long as THEY feel comfortable with It. Have you given up on living in a society then? What other areas of collective social responsibility have you given up on? Maybe your the kind of person who likes to park in Handicap spaces without a blue badge, but goes mental when someone parks in that public space right outside you house? Fly tipping is probably okay with you, so long as it helps you get rid of that pesky mattress and it’s nowhere near your house, right?
As of July 19th, vaccinated people arriving from Britian no longer have to quarantine or take a pcr test 72 hours in advance of arrival. Mask wearing or lack of , is the least of our problems when the powers that be are making decisions like this.
@Colin: No, we will have a booster to deal with the new variants. We’ll also have new therapeutics that will probably stop the virus from replicating for those who get infected. A tablet you can take to stop you developing symptoms. There’s billions going into covid research, so there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
@Colin: booster shots will probably be needed for another year or two until we get enough of the planet vaccinated. There will be more mutations but hopefully they will lessen the severity of the virus as vaccines start winning the battle worldwide. Viruses usually lose potency as they mutate to survive. This one doesn’t need to yet, although there are some reports suggesting that delta may not be quite as severe as previous varients and just much more transmissible. But make no mistake, we won’t beat this virus until the whole planet does and while we are looking like having a vaccine uptake in mid 90 percentile here there are plenty of countries that will do well to get half that without making them compulsory.
@Darren Lambe: I never said what my opinion on compulsory vaccines so stop trying to make an argument where there isn’t one. I’m just saying that some countries will inevitably go that way if there isn’t a large enough uptake. France is considering it according to Macron last week. One of the central Asian countries, I’m blanking on which one at the minute, has already made them mandatory. The argument that they will use is that if there is not enough vaccinated people in their country then they can’t reopen it safely. There are lots of vaccines out there that are already mandatory, if you want to travel to certain countries or work in certain professions. This is no different. If we want to get back to normal we need to vaccinate for our sake and for the sake of those around us.
Some dope in the vaccination centre the other day kept taking her mask off to make video calls and another hadn’t their nose covered. What hope is there for us?
Let’s be clear here, this cannot be accurate. People who wear masks under their nose would say they wear masks and the many people that “forget” their masks would say they wear them too
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