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Manchester Tory Sarah Heald was caught on camera smacking the microphone of a TV reporter out of his hand after being asked about a rise in hate crimes following the Manchester Arena bombing.

The Conservative Candidate for Manchester Withington was visiting a mosque in the constituency yesterday with a camera crew from France24 TV, and was asked to speak with local GP and Civil Liberties activist Faizan Awan on camera.

But CCTV footage showed her swatting the reporter's microphone to the ground, before apparently angrily squaring up to him.

Dr Awan said on Twitter Ms Heald had accused the reporter of leading her into an "ambush".

He wrote: "Off camera, I inform her that [the mosque had] just experienced a hate crime, and is she prepared for an interview about this. She answers she’s more than willing.”

He went on: “On camera, after explaining that as a Mancunian Muslim, I’ve been attacked twice, once in the Manchester Arena attack and secondly when we get hate for being Muslims.

“I ask her about the increase in hate crimes since her government has been in power.”

He said Ms Heald had defended the Prevent strategy, which has faced criticism for “ostracising” Muslim communities. And she said foreign policy wasn’t as much of a driver of terror as poor integration.

Dr Awan says he questioned how integration is possible “when for each good news report the media represents Muslims and Islam as extreme or linked to terrorism in 21 others, and her views on the Leveson inquiry on press standards.

“As she starts answering this, she smacks the reporter’s hand microphone away causing it to smash to the ground in two pieces.”

According to Dr Awan, Ms Heald said: “This is an ambush. This is not what we wanted to talk about.”

Ms Heald insisted she had knocked the microphone out of the reporters hand accidentally.

She said: “An individual was being quite aggressive while I was conducting an interview with France 24, which resulted in me accidentally knocking the reporter’s microphone. I apologised to the reporter at the time.”