police brutality

Riots in Morocco: official sources vs. YouTube

Ségolène — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:15:33 +0200

The harbour town of Sidi Ifni, Morocco, became a battleground between groups of unemployed protestors and police forces last weekend. But while the authorities talk of a skirmish or two, web users say there was a full-blown riot followed by a brutal crackdown.

The conflict began on May 30 when hundreds of unemployed people, protesting against poor living standards, began to gather in an attempt to grind the port's operations to a halt. Demonstrators never achieved a blockade, however, as police forces intervened last weekend. Police insist they handled the situation without the use of excessive force, restoring order to the area.

Yet, Moroccan web users are unhappy with the official version. They're producing their own accounts, circulating images and comments on YouTube and alternative news websites about the violent attitude of the police. They tell of ransacked houses, brutal beatings and rubber bullets being fired irrationally. They also say that, for the first time ever in Morocco, the Mobile Intervention Company - the equivalent of France's notorious riot police (CRS) - disembarked by boat to back up the police forces in moving on the port-blocking protestors.

Web users say that the town is still in a state of siege, with hundreds of families having fled to the surrounding mountains after being made homeless, while the entire area is under helicopter surveillance. Not surprisingly, they contest arrest figures released by the ministry of interior. According to them, 160 people have been arrested rather than the 27 confirmed by the authorities.

Unable to curb information on the internet, Morocco is now attacking foreign news outlets for reporting unofficial versions of events. The Arabic news channel Al Jazeera is being chased for reporting that around ten people were dead following the incident. Citing defamation, Moroccan authorities have accused the channel of giving an unjustifiably negative image of Morocco. The official line is that "there were no victims".

Update: pro-Palestinian march ends in violence

Julien — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:58:10 +0200

Yesterday one of our Observers, Amal Ziada, told us she was on her way to a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration by Arab Israelis in northern Israel. The event went along as planned, with speeches and a symbolic release of black balloons. But as they were leaving, Amal says, the Arabs were confronted by a group of right-wing Israelis with banners. Tension escalated and Israeli police intervened - firing tear gas and "voice bombs," according to the demonstrators. Our Observers sent photos and video footage.

Publicly humiliated, like in the Mao days

Julien — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:41:44 +0200

When a local factory owner filed a case against a power station for stealing his sand and tampering with the land, he did not expect to be found guilty of blackmail. Paraded through the streets for eight hours, condemned in public and jailed for three months, Tang Xiaodong has now launched a campaign to seek justice.

The local villager's plight began when power station developers announced late 2005 that they were planning to build a new plant close to his sand factory in Dao Country, Central China. When construction began, Tang says the developers made changes to the area without previous consultation. The changes, such as raising the land level by two metres and modifying fencing borders, resulted in the capture of his land. He said they also stole 200,000 metric cubes of sand and grit belonging to the sand factory. He decided to fight for his ownership rights and filed a case against the power station owners.

In February of last year he was set to leave Xialiu village for a holiday. Yet, upon his departure, he was arrested by a policeman and held in custody. Four days later, following negotiations with the mayor, the power station constructors forced Tang to sign an agreement. They said he would receive compensations worth €3,500, far short of the ground's value. However, the contract was no such thing. In fact, the document was later used as evidence against Tang when the developers accused him of trying to extort money from the company.

Can Russian police really do that?

Julien — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:57:44 +0200

This video, supposedly filmed by the Russian police, emerged on the internet on Monday. We don't know where it came from, nor is it possible to know exactly where it was filmed. But our Observers confirm that this type of cruelty is not unusual.

Cut your hair or we'll do it for you

Julien — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:35:56 +0100

This video was sent to us on Sunday by our Iranian Observer, blogger Arash Kamangir, who says that the young man in the clip has been arrested for having long hair. The video has provoked strong reactions on the Iranian blogosphere and floods of comments on YouTube. We don't know where or when it was filmed yet, but the men's uniforms seem to be those of the Iranian police force. We'll try to provide further information during the course of the day. Warning, you might find the images upsetting.

UPDATE 1 (10.03.08 - 4pm): The link to the video was first posted on Balatarin, a Farsi site where web-users vote on the quality of publications. And so the polemic began. The video has already been watched 34,000 times on YouTube, resulting in many strong reactions. Some say the video is fake, others say that it's not rare for young Iranians to have their heads' shaved because long hair is seen as too western. We still don't know who the man is or why he was being grilled.

Vote-riggers can’t break their habit

Julien — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:13:25 +0100

Stories of ingenious election rigging in Russia are not unheard of. But in this year’s presidential election on March 2 the tales have become taller. Despite Putin’s chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev expecting an easy win, dead people still managed to rise from their graves on Sunday in order to give him an extra vote. Strange? A blogger from Moscow told us that even if their leader is sure to win, with a history of authoritarian rule, some Russians don’t know any other form of electoral success than “cheating, beating and grabbing”. A combination of grovelling campaigners and rigid habits — along with the prevailing support of the mass media — helped Medvedev sweep the polls with a landslide 70% victory. “All Russians as one man” is a Soviet idiom that has stuck fast and will die hard. And vote-riggers are even willing to set off air-raid sirens to keep it that way.

Eleven year old killed by a “stray bullet”

Julien — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:17:22 +0100

Eleven year old Ágatha Marquez dos Santos is the most recent victim of a police crackdown in South America’s biggest shanty-town, Rocinha. Agatha was watching TV at her father’s house when a rifle bullet flew straight into her chest. Almost 2000 residents from the slum filed into the streets of southern Rio on Saturday, calling for justice to be made. The protesters blame the police outright for the death of the child. For Carlos Costa, a leader of the NGO ‘Viva Rio’ who has lived in Rocinha all his life, the “stray bullet” was triggered by the police force.

The aim of the operation was to capture a drugs-trafficker. These police raids in the slums have increased under the cover of an accelerated growth programme; a federal government plan to undertake huge urbanisation works in the area.

Abusive policeman suspended after evidence posted on YouTube

Julien — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:56:01 +0100

Now known as ‘The Baltimore Cop’ on YouTube, a police officer who physically and verbally abused a fourteen year-old skateboarder was yesterday suspended for his actions. Seventeen-year veteran Salvatore Rivieri was caught on camera shouting at and pushing Eric Bush last summer. But until the video surfaced on YouTube this week, no action was taken. Now, Rivieri, who threatened to “smack you upside the head”, is awaiting the conclusion of an internal investigation. And while he waits, the world watches. The video has already been viewed by around a million people worldwide.

Killed for filming police brutality on his mobile

Julien — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:52:26 +0100

When Wei Wenhu saw police forces beating up protesting villagers in Tianmen (central China), he took out his mobile and filmed the scene. But when he was spotted and tried to run away, he found himself being chased by around 20 police officers.

He cried that he would delete the photos and even give the policemen his phone. But it didn't make any difference. Wenhu was brutally beaten and succumbed to his injuries in hospital the same day, 7 January. The incident has outraged bloggers, whose online respects to this ‘citizen journalist' increase daily. Under pressure, the authorities have decided to undertake an investigation into the blunder, and have even fired the head of the city's police force.

In a country where the media is largely government controlled and heavily censored, images of police brutality usually find their way into the public eye on the internet. Here, some of those videos that the authorities would rather they didn't find their way out.