Four arrested in police raids after protesters steal statues from University of Manchester

Four people have been arrested after protesters stole two statues from a University of Manchester building.

The incident at the Chemistry Building on the Oxford Road campus on November 1 is being investigated by police. A protest group said the sculptures were of Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first president, who had earlier been an academic at the university.

But while one of the two sculptures is of Mr Weizmann, the second is of Harold Baily Dixon, a former professor of chemistry at the University of Manchester. Greater Manchester Police said both statues were later 'defaced publicly'.

READ MORE: Brianna Ghey killer Eddie Ratcliffe loses bid to cut life sentence for murder

A 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident last month. He remains on bail.

Police have now made further arrests following a series of raids across Greater Manchester, including in Hulme and Old Trafford, this morning (Thursday). Two men and two women, aged between 20 and 34, were arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary. They remain in custody.

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Billington said: "In Greater Manchester, we have always supported people's democratic right to peaceful protest and have seen how people can bring their voices together in this way many times across the region, however what we will not tolerate is those intent on committing criminal acts.

"I hope today's arrests, and our continued efforts to act where incidents have crossed over into criminality, provides our communities with reassurance on how seriously we are taking these and how swiftly we are prepared to deal with them. Criminality is not welcome in Greater Manchester."

GMP has set up a major incident portal, where members of the public can submit CCTV,