Paddy Doherty’s Manchester march plea as Traveller teen ‘solely wished Yorkshire pud wrap’
My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Paddy Doherty has called for “everyone” to come and support a protest in Manchester.
It comes after large groups of Romany Gypsies and Irish Traveller children were “blocked” from attending the city’s Christmas markets and “forced” back onto trains by dozens of cops last month.
The reality TV personality claimed the scenes were remiscent of “Nazi Germany” and slammed the “heavy-handed” approach by Greater Manchester Police. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show screaming youths being ushered through Manchester Victoria.
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(Image: Supplied)
Clips seen by the Daily Star showed a huge police presence at the train station with officers stood in a big line as one youngster can be heard saying: “Look at this. You’d think we’d killed someone.”
Another filmed in the city centre appears to show a teenager tackled to the ground by officers after asking: “What have I done wrong?”
Paddy claimed there’s also footage of a young girl “almost falling onto the train tracks” after being pushed in the commotion.
Another video, filmed by a teenager which has amassed over 85k likes on TikTok, shows the chaotic scenes at the train station overlayed with the caption: “POV ur just a chill girl tryna get a Yorkshire pudding rap (sic).”
(Image: tiktok.com/@edeeellen_1)
Greater Manchester Police said they had enforced a 48-hour dispersal order and that their priority was “always to protect public safety by preventing incidents of violence and disorder.”
But in a recent video on his social media channels, Paddy called for everyone to support a “peaceful” march in the city on Friday 6, which will begin at St Peter’s Square at 3pm.
Paddy said: “Why there? It’s the Lord Mayor’s place where he works. Just to let him know who we are and what we are. We are human beings. Bring men, women and children. That’s what it’s all about. Everyone should turn up, even country people should turn up and support us.”
He added: “We’re here to walk, to protest for our children…and for their future. Let’s do the walk and the talk to the world, to Britain.”
(Image: Supplied)
He added: “We are the only people in the UK who’ve got no rights to nothing. Isn’t that terrible? We can’t even vote.
“Go into a pub – ‘Sorry we can’t serve you?’ Why? ‘Because you are Travellers’. ‘Sorry you can’t book this hall.’ Why? ‘Because you’re a Traveller.’ Sorry we can’t do this funeral?
“Imagine getting knocked back for funerals. No matter what we do, we get knock backs.”
He added: “Let’s do everything for our rights.
(Image: Supplied)
“We want pink, white, yellow, blue, orange, green – it doesn’t make a difference to me, just turn up, yeah.”
After the incident, Assistant Chief Constable Rick Jackson said the force had been given “intelligence” about anti-social behaviour by groups on trains on the way into Manchester and similar reports around the city centre so a dispersal order was issued.
“This included plans for officers to re-route arriving groups back home,” he said.
Meanwhile there have been calls in parliament for a Home Office investigation into the incident.
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