Armed police and helicopters swarmed around a man feared to be wearing a suicide belt in a Manchester park – only for officers to discover it was a weighted gym vest.
Photographs and footage showed several emergency vehicles emerging at the scene close to Mandley Park, Salford on Friday afternoon following reports of ‘a suspicious male’.
A man wearing a white T-shirt and blue jogging bottoms could be seen with the vest strapped to his body and kneeling on the ground with his hands on his head.
An eyewitness told Manchester Evening News there was a ‘huge amount of police’ in the Higher Broughton area, where a large Jewish community resides.
The park is also less than one mile away from Heaton Park Synagogue, the location of a deadly terrorist attack against the Jewish community by an Islamist terrorist last October.
Adrian Daulby, 53, who helped to barricade the doors of the synagogue on October 2, 2025, died from a single gunshot wound.
Fellow worshipper, Melvin Cravitz, 66, also died after suffering fatal knife wounds inflicted by terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie outside the building on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson moved swiftly to assure the community there was ‘no threat’ following today’s incident.
Armed police swarmed around a man feared to be wearing a suicide belt in a Manchester park – only for officers to discover it was a weighted gym vest
Several emergency vehicles emerging at the scene close to Mandley Park, Salford on Friday afternoon following reports of ‘a suspicious male’
The park is less than one mile away from Heaton Park Synagogue, the location of a deadly terrorist attack against the Jewish community by an Islamist terrorist last October
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson moved swiftly to assure the community there was ‘no threat’ following today’s incident
They said: ‘We received a report of a suspicious male on Bristol Street, Salford, at around 11.52am today.
‘Officers attended and quickly established that the individual was wearing a weighted gym vest and carrying a skipping rope while exercising at an outdoor gym.
‘This was a false alarm and there is no threat to the wider community.’
A spokesperson for Community Security Trust, a charity which protects Jewish communities, said: ‘The incident in Mandley Park has now been resolved. Police have confirmed there is no wider risk to the public.
‘We thank Greater Manchester Police for their swift response to what appears to have been a false alarm.’
