British actor turned anti-Isis fighter plays Ariana Grande in Raqqa

Michael Enright played 'Bang Bang' as a tribute to Manchester arena victims.
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

It's been five months since the terrorist attack at Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester and the city is no doubt still feeling the pain of what happened.

A Manchester-born actor who allegedly joined the ranks of Kurdish YPG militia in Syria in 2015, played an Ariana Grande's song from his phone in Raqqa's infamous Naim Square, which is often cited as a symbol of Isis brutality because of the parades and bloody executions that have taken place there.

Michael Enright, an actor who featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest but later went to Syria after watching videos of Isis executions, appeared in a video interview with ANF, a Kurdish news outlet:

After showing a burned-out music shop where the Islamic State "pulled out everything that was there because they didn't want their voices, they didn't allow singing," Enright says:

"[I thought] cause I'm from Manchester and they came to my city, they came to my city and they tried to shut up Ariana Grande, that she'd be the first one to sing."

While holding the phone playing Grande's 'Bang Bang' to the camera, the actor adds:

"You didn't shut her up and you didn't shut Manchester up because she's singing 'Bang Bang'

"You know what happened: I came and we did 'Bang Bang' and you left, you ran away."

U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) wrestled Raqqa back from Isis last week after a four-month battle. The Syrian city was the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic State.

Enright joined the Kurdish anti-Isis forces in 2015 after seeing the execution of journalist James Foley.

He told Al Arabiya: “The reason I came out here is because originally I saw James Foley, an American citizen, journalist and innocent man, getting his head cut off. I had never seen anything like that and I felt a bunch of raw emotions. [It was] very painful for me."

However, a U.S. veteran fighting with the YPG, Jordan Matson, posted on Facebook claims that Enright had been "kicked out of four different fighting units and asked to leave twice by the YPG."

“The generals have even told us they try keeping him away from everyone for fear that their own men will kill him," he wrote.

The actor-turned-soldier rejected these claims, saying: “None of the soldiers I fought with said that at all. The only people who have said anything negative were the people I came with from the academy, I came over the hill with.”

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