police

"Smile! You're on CCTV" - naked

Sophie — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:54:04 +0200

A Chinese journalist managed to get access to a stream of images delivered by a surveillance camera located on the roof of a building. Although the camera was supposed to be keeping an eye on a set of crossroads, the journalist noticed that during the night, the policeman in charge was lingering on the windows of a building across the street.

It was a hack from the Southern Metropolis Daily who unveiled the scandal (which was then passed on by blogger NorthEastSouthWest). He had been scanning the real time broadcast of the monitoring camera in the town of Yayuan (southeast) since April 26. He started to notice that, once night had fallen, the devise did not merely fix its attention on the crossroads below, but scanned the building across the road at length. It also stopped, with no apparent reason, on windows where the curtains were open. The reporter published an extract (below) illustrating this strange method of observation, as the camera spent 59 minutes and 41 seconds "surveying" the same window frame, which happened to expose a young woman naked in her bathroom. Local authorities reacted to the affair by promising serious punishment for the person responsible. They also suggested the camera was being operated by a "temporary" staff member.

The incident serves as a reminder that security cameras operating inner-city - and not only those in China - are a serious cause for concern in terms of respect for private life.

Yahoo and MSN helping to root out Tibetan rioters

Julien — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:29:07 +0100

The 'most wanted' on Yahoo's homepage this morning

Yahoo! China pasted a "most wanted" poster across its homepage today in aid of the police's witch-hunt for 24 Tibetans accused of taking part in the recent riots. MSN China made the same move, although it didn't go as far as publishing the list on its homepage.

UPDATE 1 : We spotted these photos on MSN and Yahoo! on March 21st at 3.30pm (Beijing time). This article was published at 5pm. The photos have been removed from the portals between 8pm and 10pm.

UPDATE 2 (24.03.08 / 10.15am Paris time) : Following this report, Yahoo! sent us the following statement :"Contrary to media reports, Yahoo! Inc. is not displaying images on its web sites of individuals wanted by Chinese authorities in connection with the recent unrest in Tibet." In this statement, Yahoo! says that the parent company Yahoo Inc did not publish these images. The company does not deny that Yahoo! China has published the "wanted" posters. This is a common line of defence by Yahoo!, which tries to put the entire responsibility of its Chinese operations on its Chinese partner Alibaba. See bellow a printscreen of the Yahoo! China (cn.yahoo.com) home page on March 21st.

Odd looking photographer? Must be a terrorist

Julien — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:16:28 +0100

The London Metropolitan police have just issued new measures in the fight against terrorism. During a five week campaign police officers are expected to stop and search more “odd” looking people and the public are being warned to report anything “suspicious”. But after just two weeks since its launch the public are starting to question whether it’s infringing on civil liberties. Photographers in particular are sick of being questioned by policemen and being told to move on. To voice their complaints, artists are creating their own versions of the campaign’s posters.

"Sniper" catches sweetener on film

Julien — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:35:54 +0100

These images were taken at the frontier post between Nador (northeastern Morocco) and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. According to the web-user who posted the video, police accept backhanders in return for a less-than-thorough check. The video was posted by “Sniper Nador”, probably named in honour of “Sniper Tarjist”, who posted a similar video last summer. We see a motorist slip something into a policeman's hand, although we can’t make out what. But one thing’s for sure: the Moroccan blogosphere will be taken up with this new fad of being a “sniper”.

Villagers forced out of their homes by riot police

Julien — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:21:03 +0100

By our regional editor in China, Zhang.

In less than four years the village of Taiping in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in south-west China, has seen over 70% of its residents expelled by the authorities. Despite fervent protest on the part of the inhabitants, there are now only 300 houses where 1000 used to stand, and still the project continues. The most recent development in the programme has seen 33000 square metres of collectively-owned land sold - in secret - to developers for 1.2m RMB (€115,000). This amount is considered to be extremely low for such an area and, furthermore, the villagers who live on the land will receive almost nothing from the payment.

Forced out of their homes by riot police last Friday afternoon, two of the residents ended up in hospital - one of them 82 years old. Cut off from electricity and water by the government, the entire village had slowly become more and more inhabitable every day.

And the villagers' part of the deal? Three percent of the payment divided between all of them. Any right to complain? Petitioners against the plans were either imprisoned or silenced.

Dancing policeman

Julien — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:07:48 +0100

For the past 23 years, police officer Tony Lepore has been coming out of retirement to direct traffic on Rhode Island, Massachusetts. The 60-year-old ex-warden spends each Christmas directing drivers with a festive version of the traffic warden's code. This year his moves have caught the attention of internet users. Videos of the dancing policeman can be found on blogs all over the world.

Video posted 13 December 2007.

Taser, a non-lethal weapon?

Julien — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:56:50 +0100

Canada's federal police watchdog requested yesterday that authorities "immediately restrict" the use of Taser guns (electronic control devices). The news has refuelled debate over the use of the "non-lethal" weapon, which has been blamed for the death of a Polish immigrant killed in Vancouver airport on 14 October. The incident was filmed by a passenger who put the images online a few weeks later. Robert Dziekanski, the man we see in the video, died a few minutes after being shocked with a Taser. We have commentary from an Amnesty International representative, who condemns the abuse of the North American weapon, and from Tom Smith, co-founder of Taser.
Post your questions on his profile page.

Bolivia's new constitution is born into a chaotic climate

Julien — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:39:17 +0100

Material from our regional editor for South America, Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.

The Bolivian assembly approved a new constitution, which grants more power to President Evo Morales on Sunday. The approval was controversial, to say the least. There was an opposition boycott in the assembly, with only 164 out of 255 deputies present for the vote. What's more, the underlying tensions between supporters of Morales and mestizo Bolivians - who consider themselves descendants of Europeans - still run deep. In the run-up to Sunday's vote, there were violent protests in the central Bolivian city of Sucre, in which at least three people were killed. The extent of the violence can be seen in this video, filmed in Sucre on Nov. 23, where the constituent assembly had been meeting. We see opposition supporters tackling the police, and later, a policeman finds himself surrounded by rioters after his motorbike breaks down.

Post your questions to Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.

The video was filmed by Paul van Hooff, a Dutch freelance journalist, and posted on 23 November 2007.

Fashion crackdown intensifies: arrests captured on film

Julien — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:06:00 +0100

Material compiled by our regional editor for Iran and Afghanistan, Jay Bakht

This video was captured on a mobile phone at the Abouzar roundabout in the eastern Iranian city of Birjand. It shows two girls being arrested by the police for not covering their hair properly. The police are supposed to act like a ‘moral authority’ that protects and enforces Islamic customs in Iranian society. But they are not always official. They can approach people acting ‘inappropriately’, for example an unmarried couple holding hands or a girl with heavy make-up. Many people try to resist; as the girls in the video.

The two girls are approached by two women wearing long black “chadoors”, as the all-enveloping traditional Islamic robes are called in Iran. One of the girls can be heard saying: “Who are you? I’m not coming with you. Wait a second!” One of the women then says, “I’m a policewoman.” The girl screams, “Let me go! People! Help! Help me! God …help me…” In the background a man says: “She hasn’t committed any crime, why don’t they let her go?!”

Post your questions to Farnaz Seifi, Iranian feminist and our observer in Iran, or to Jay Bakht, our regional editor for Iran and Afghanistan.