Press release from Greater Manchester Police:

IMAGES OF THE SUSPECTS ARE AVAILABLE ON GMP’S FLICKR SITE AT www.flickr.com/photos/gmpwanted

WE ARE PUBLISHING THESE IMAGES ON OUR WEBSITE AND THROUGH THE GMP Flickr SITE. PEOPLE CAN SEND US IMAGES THEY HAVE BY UPLOADING THEM TO OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AT http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greater-Manchester-Police/166857596717601

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said: “These have been challenging times for policing in Greater Manchester and across the country. My officers have been faced with significant levels of violence and last night they, together with other emergency services, were attacked.

“In Salford officers faced extreme violence and we are in no doubt these were criminals who were organised using social media and mobile phones. This was a criminal element who exploited the situation to carry out criminal acts and with a violent intent.

“The situation in Manchester was of a large group of people who split into smaller groups that were intent on breaking into shops and moved from one place to another to target businesses.

“Throughout the afternoon and evening we had hundreds of officers working to contain the sporadic disorder and criminal activity that took place in Manchester and Salford. There is no doubt that this was a tremendously difficult time.

“My officers acted extremely courageously and faced the violence head on as they tackled the disturbances. There is no doubt that these were gangs that were determined to cause trouble with no regard to people or property. There were around 100 buildings targeted and some of these include big names and small family businesses. These individuals have attacked their own communities.

“We continue to receive messages of support from people across Greater Manchester and the rest of the country. They want to help us to identify the people who have been responsible for bringing these shameful scenes to our streets. They want to help us ensure that these criminals are brought to justice. We have received hundreds of images through Twitter and Facebook and we are working through these.

“During the evening we have made 113 arrests and we will be making more. This morning we are releasing the first images from CCTV footage that we have reviewed overnight. We are publishing these images on our website and through the GMP Flickr site. People can send us images they have by uploading them to our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greater-Manchester-Police/166857596717601.”

“We will not rest until we have arrested and put these criminals before the courts. Greater Manchester is back to work this morning and we will ensure it is business as usual.

“Anyone who recognises the people in the images or has any information can call the Greater Manchester Police information appeal line on 0800 092 0410 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

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