The moment pandemonium broke out at Caribbean Carnival after-party - before Manchester lad murdered by Yorkshire rivals
26.05.2023 - 17:31
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The sun beat down on Moss Side as Manchester's Caribbean Carnival made its long-awaited return. Restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic meant 2022's event was the first to be held in two years.
Around 40,000 people attended over two days for a colourful celebration of Manchester’s rich Caribbean and African history - with dancing, steel drums and vibrant parades. It was a celebration of everything good about Moss Side.
But as the sun went down, with the party in full swing, chaos broke out. The balmy August weekend ended in confusion and tragedy.
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The tireless work of volunteers, community groups and Xcalibre, GMP's anti-gang unit, has gone a long way to transform Moss Side's streets - to rid the area of the reputation it had in the 1990s and 2000s. That stigma has largely faded into memory.
Just after midnight on the final day of the event, as revellers attended the post-Carnival party, terror punctuated the end of what had been a peaceful, joyous celebration.
CCTV footage released for the first time shows mass panic after a gun was fired, moments before a young man was stabbed to death. It was a miracle no-one else was caught in the crossfire.
One woman, in her 50s, had attended with her daughter and some friends. When she arrived, she had no idea she'd become a witness to murder.
"We were all drinking and enjoying ourselves and stuff like that," she said. "We just heard a bit of like a ruption and then I looked back and I saw a lot of people running towards us.
"I said, 'oh my god what’s happened'? I heard a couple of shots, to be honest I never thought it was shots, because sometimes they do tend to let off fireworks as well."
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