'Hooligans' for protest

LOCALS 'SCARED' AFTER 2 NIGHTS

- By CHRIS SLATER

BUSINESSES on Manchester's Curry Mile have hit out at 'hooligans' and 'animals' who caused trouble during two nights of protests.

Some traders say they believed visitors and families were now staying away from the famous stretch of Wilmslow Road in Rusholme due to fears of a repeat.

Scuffling broke out between rival protesters, missiles were thrown at police and cars and businesses were damaged during the first night of disorder which resulted in GMP closing a stretch of the road on Tuesday night.

And a number of arrests were made after trouble broke out at a similar gathering on Wednesday.

The flareups are believed to be connected to the continuing conflict in Syria between government troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In a separate incident, a man was stabbed following an 'organised and peaceful protest' believed to be linked to the conflict, attended by around 300 people at Salford Quays, police said.

Business owners on the iconic south Manchester thoroughfare have now told the Manchester Evening News that the trouble has left people feeling 'scared' and 'uneasy!

And they expressed anger at groups using the busy and popular area as a venue to air their political grievances.

Ayrin Alamarin, 28, a manager at a restaurant on the stretch, said he witnessed someone being chased from a car inside a café, and a restaurant window being attacked with metal chairs on Tuesday. "It is a bit scary," he said. "They were doing stupid things. Never mind this area, it's nothing to do with this country.