Mancunians stand together
On 22 May, 22 people died and many were injured after an attack at a pop concert in Manchester. Since then, the police have been busy working out exactly what happened, and Mancunians (people who live in Manchester) have been paying tribute to those who died.
What’s happened since then?
Since the incident, Greater Manchester Police have been investigating whether the attacker acted alone, or whether other people helped him. They have so far made 14 arrests, but have concluded that he largely acted alone in the run-up to the attack.
Why was secret information published?
The investigation hasn’t been easy. Just days after the attack took place, a US newspaper called the New York Times published photographs that were taken by the British police at the scene of the attack. The photos had been shared with US security experts, and it’s believed that a US official leaked the photographs and the identity of the attacker to US journalists. Greater Manchester Police are angry the confidential information was made public because its release could have helped the attacker’s accomplices to avoid being caught.
Why were soldiers on the streets?
In the days after the attack, armed police and soldiers patrolled public areas across the country as the terror threat level was raised. Terror threat levels refer to how likely the security services believe another attack to be. On 27 May, the terror threat level was reduced and soldiers were removed from the streets.
How have Mancunians reacted?
To mark exactly one week since the attack, hundreds of people gathered in the city’s St Ann’s Square on 29 May. The crowd stood around a sea of flowers, balloons and candles, and fell silent shortly after 10.30pm, the time of the attack. Elsewhere in the city, people queued to get a bee tattoo. The busy bug symbolises Manchester’s role in the Industrial Revolution. This was a time when many factories and cotton mills opened in the area and workers flooded into the city. The tattoos cost £50 and all of the money raised will go to the victims and their families.