Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Mr Burnham said he had met with about 40 community partners in Rochdale.He said: “What people here don’t want – and I heard this very clearly in the room this morning – is politicians without possession of the facts exploiting the situation for their own political agenda with zero regard for the effect on the ground in communities in Greater Manchester.“I want to finish by repeating the call for calm, particularly over the coming weekend.“Things are now moving forward, the right steps are being taken and people’s voices are being heard.“It is in everyone’s interests that from here we proceed with things in a measured and a peaceful way.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00At the end of what has been an intense and difficult week for everybody in Greater Manchester,
00:07but particularly for those directly involved in what happened.
00:12The purpose of today is to convey what I believe to be the overwhelming feeling in Greater
00:19Manchester about the need now to move forward with an investigation that is fair to everyone
00:27involved and, by being seen as such, brings people back together.
00:34Together with the Deputy Mayor, I visited Rochdale this morning and met with around
00:4140 community partners and was grateful for the honest conversations we had.
00:49People spoke of the families' appeal for calm.
00:55It was echoed in the room and I am today amplifying that message as loudly and clearly
01:03as I can so that everyone hears it.
01:08Lots of people this week have had their say on events here and it is important now that
01:14those same people hear what people in Greater Manchester want to happen next.
01:22What they want is a process that is able to proceed on the basis, as I said before,
01:29of being fair to everyone, rigorous, swift and has input from Greater Manchester communities.
01:38That has got to be the priority now so that the full facts can be established and we can
01:44get to the full truth of what happened.
01:47That is in everyone's interest.
01:50What people here do not want, and I heard this very clearly in the room this morning,
01:56is politicians without possession of the facts exploiting the situation for their own political
02:04agenda with zero regard for the effect on the ground in communities in Greater Manchester.
02:13I want to finish by repeating the call for calm, particularly over the coming weekend.
02:23Things are now moving forward.
02:26The right steps are being taken and people's voices are being heard.
02:32It's in everyone's interest that from here we proceed with things in a measured and a
02:38peaceful way.