Bizarre footage shows Arena memorial vandal ‘praying’ in front of Glade of Light before damaging it

Bizarre CCTV footage has shown how vandal Anwar Hosseni appeared to pray in front of the Glade of Light memorial - before damaging it. The 24-year-old was yesterday handed a community order after a series of scratches were found on the Manchester Arena bombing memorial in the city centre in February this year.

In footage shared with the Manchester Evening NewsHosseni, of Salford, can be seen walking up to the side of the memorial, before bending down and scribbling something. He then moves onto another section of the memorial, crouching down and scratching something into the marble.

In the four minute long video, Hosseni then moves to another section further along the memorial which is lit by a streetlight, and stays there for a long period of time. He appears to be praying as he crouches, before he moves onto another section, makes an ‘X’ gesture with his arms and continues scratching the marks.

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Manchester Crown Court today (June 22) heard that the Glade of Light memorial, based in the city centre, was due to be unveiled in May in honour of the 22 people who were killed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. But, on February 9, a family member of one of the deceased contacted the council and the police to inform them that the memorial had been damaged.

Prosecutor Julian Goode said police viewed CCTV footage from around the area and saw a man nearby, at around 2am. “As soon as he walked around the memorial, police viewed what they believed to be a male praying before he left the scene,” he said.

“At 2.47am the footage shows the male returning and at the time of 2.54am he can be seen bending down with what appears to be an implement in his