DIE Police violence The demonstrations against the corona measures in Berlin called on the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment to be present. Swiss law professor Niels Melzer hopes to ask the federal government to make a statement next week, as he told the German news agency on Thursday. The federal government will then have 60 days to respond.
Melzer said: “Some of the circulated videos are worrying.” “There is enough evidence that human rights may be violated.” He has already spoken to witnesses. At first glance, there may be more than a dozen incidents. United Nations special rapporteurs are also related to police violence, such as in Hong Kong or Belarus. “Germany is not a big customer for me,” he said.
For example, Melzer mentioned a video in which a policeman grabbed a woman by the neck and knocked her to the ground. “She may be dead,” Melzer said. The woman was in no danger, but the official used a self-defense technique instead of simply preventing administrative violations. Other videos showed that a man was bloody beaten even when he was handcuffed to the ground, or someone was torn from the back of the bicycle.
“The armed police force may not be the right answer”
Melzer said people had to react differently in demonstrations where thousands of people ignored orders but did not act violently. “This is a communication problem, not a problem of violence. Armored police forces may not be the correct answer.”
If the police break the law, the German government must take legal action. It also involves compensation and preventive measures for victims.
Melzer said the facts he was looking for are expected to trigger rethinking. The increase in police violence is a global trend. The police force is becoming more and more militarized. Then the police no longer see themselves as friends and helpers. “In my opinion, this is a dangerous escalation spiral.”
Despite the ban on large-scale demonstrations, thousands of people marched in the capital on Sunday. They have gathered in different areas of the city many times, and there have been several clashes between protesters and the police. The police conducted at least 503 preliminary investigations of participants. It said in a police report on Monday that the emergency services had to “restrict their freedom or arrest them” in total, which was less than 1,000 people. More than 60 police officers were injured in the operation, some of them were seriously injured.
On Wednesday, 350 police officers were on duty to enforce the ban on two demonstrations. One was planned by the “Horizontal Thinking” team. On Tuesday, the police banned the two gatherings.
