Helmut Melzer
They are or should be your “friend and helper”. And especially for the protection of democracy, the police are an essential pillar in an emergency. It is therefore right to constantly question: Which side is the executive on? Is it there for everyone equally? Are there any signs of anti-democratic tendencies?
Incidents are increasing not only in the USA, but also in (still) well-protected Europe and Austria, which at least make one doubt about individual organs. Here is the video that shocked police racism in the United States.
But in Austria - and elsewhere in the world - these are by no means isolated cases. Particularly alarming in this context are the criteria for the admission procedure to the police: "Because many candidates fail the entrance test, the requirements have been further reduced“, Reports about ORF in 2018. And further: “As a rule, there were between 400 and 500 points as the minimum number where people were accepted. Now the number is 200 points. That is a clear downward trend, ”said trade unionists Hermann Wally in the Ö1 lunch journal.
The problem: Many applicants are not good at arithmetic and writing, says Wally. Many applicants also fail the demanding sport test - the swimming test has also been removed from the admission procedure. If the level drops, but this would also have an impact in practice, the police unionist fears: "Citizens may notice that legal knowledge is poorer, that procedures can be lengthy."
Here is the video that caused a sensation in Austria: As part of a climate demonstration, the head of a demonstrator was placed under a car and apparently almost run over.
Amnesty International: abuses, discriminatory controls, excessive fines and forced quarantines
Documented in a current report Amnesty International Abuses, discriminatory personal checks, disproportionate fines and forced quarantines: the police in Europe enforce lockdown measures disproportionately strong against members of ethnic minorities and marginalized groups.
The report highlights the situation in Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania, Spain and the UK. Amnesty's research reveal a worrying level of racist bias based on institutional racism within the police force. This reflects the broader problem that the Black Lives MatterMovement currently draws attention.
“Police violence and concerns about institutional racism are not new phenomena. But the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown enforcement have shown how widespread these things really are, ”said Marco Perolini, a Western Europe expert at Amnesty International, and continues:“ The dangerous trio of discrimination, unlawful use of violence and police Impunity must be tackled urgently in Europe. "
"The authorities need to address the allegations of institutional racism, racial bias and discrimination within the police that have become apparent in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is time for Europe to end these practices and face racism on their doorstep, ”said Barbora Černušáková, an expert on Eastern Europe at Amnesty International.
Amnesty International therefore demands, among other things, that states create mechanisms so that allegations of abuse can be investigated quickly, independently and thoroughly, and that those responsible can be held accountable. In Austria, the federal government's plans to create an investigative agency to investigate allegations of police violence are the first positive steps in this direction.
Discriminatory police operations against ethnic minorities
Police enforcement of the lockdowns had the greatest impact in poorer areas, where there are often relatively large numbers of ethnic minorities. In the Seine-Saint-Denis department, the poorest area of mainland France, where black people and people from North Africa mainly live, three times as many fines for lockdown violations were imposed as in the rest of the country, although according to local authorities, not there violated the rules more than anywhere else.
In Nice, longer night curfews were imposed in a district that is mainly populated by workers and members of ethnic minorities than in the rest of the city. The police often used illegal force when carrying out road and person checks to enforce the lockdown rules.
The United Kingdom is one of the few European countries that collects law enforcement data broken down by ethnic criteria. In March and April 2020, the London police registered a 22 percent increase in street police checks (stop and searches). Over the same period, the number of black people stopped and checked on the streets increased by almost a third.
Amnesty International has verified the authenticity of 34 video recordings from across Europe showing how the police use illegal violence - often when it was not necessary to use violence at all. A video posted on March 29 shows how two law enforcement officers in Bilbao, Spain, stopped a young man on the street who is reportedly from North Africa. Although the man was apparently not a threat to the police, they pushed him and hit him with a truncheon.
Military quarantine in Roma settlements
In Bulgaria and Slovakia, Roma settlements were compulsorily quarantined, which is evidence of a discriminatory attitude. In Slovakia, the military was turned off to enforce the quarantine. Amnesty International believes that the army should not be deployed to enforce public health measures.
Here is the worldwide petition on Georg Floyd
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