Friday 20 March 2009

Innocent!



10 policemen beat 2 handcuffed students on the pavement, in Nicosia, Cyprus. Click here to see the video (Politis newspaper). Yesterday these thugs were found innocent by a Cypriot court. The court did not accept the video, filmed by a local resident, as valid evidence. Once more the rights of citizens are brutally violated. May I remind you of the Menezes case? Nobody went to jail. Nobody was given the sack. And let's not forget Carlo Giuliani (video contains blood & violence), shot by police in Genova in the riots against the G(reedy)8 in 2001, or the shooting of 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens in December 2008. Or, for that matter, the thousands of others not mentioned here, but whose cases are no less important. Overzealous police are still among us, ready to defy more than 60 years of Human Rights, trigger-happy and proud.

Police are there to 'serve and protect' citizens. Indeed, time and again we see that it is these very citizens who suffer from surveillance, intrusion, torture and death. And we're not talking about Zimbabwe anymore-this is the so-called civilised Europe, the same Europe that assumes the patronising role of 'protecting' the Zimbabwes of the world. Nonsense. Hypocrisy. Give a man a badge and a gun and they will abuse their power to satisfy whatever darkness lies in the depths of their soul.

Wake up. WAKE UP!

3 comments:

vette e valli said...

Yes, let's ALL wake up!
The Declaration of Human Rights, Article 8, states "Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.". The human rights of these citizens (and those of their families) have been violated again...

Blackbeard said...

It's not so long ago when states completely controlled their citizens' lives under brutal regimes (Spain until the mid-70s, Greece the same, Turkey, Portugal...). People in the UK have not experienced totalitarian regimes, that's why they are a bit naive when it comes to their data and who has access to it.

vette e valli said...

People are people ... I believe we are all the same. We can all be naive at times, but we all must be awake - or at least try to - especially when it comes to our human rights and liberties!