{"id":58938,"date":"2021-08-08T08:29:21","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T13:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58938"},"modified":"2021-08-08T08:29:21","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T13:29:21","slug":"un-special-rapporteur-on-torture-authorities-are-viewing-their-own-people-as-an-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58938","title":{"rendered":"UN Special Rapporteur on Torture: \u201cAuthorities Are Viewing Their Own People as an Enemy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UN Special Rapporteur on Torture: \u201cAuthorities Are Viewing Their Own People as an Enemy\u201d<\/a><\/h3>\n

Professor to lead investigation of police brutality against anti-lockdown protesters.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

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UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer responded to police brutality dished out to anti-lockdown protesters in Germany last weekend by warning, \u201cAuthorities are increasingly viewing their own people as an enemy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we\u00a0highlighted<\/a>\u00a0earlier in the week, Melzer, a professor of international law, made a request for eyewitnesses after footage emerged of numerous examples of people being manhandled and beaten by police in Berlin merely for expressing their right to assemble.<\/p>\n

One clip showed a female anti-lockdown protester in Berlin being grabbed by the throat and brutally thrown to the ground by riot police, while another showed a young boy being struck in the face as he tried to come to the aid of his mother.<\/p>\n

The response to Melzer\u2019s request was overwhelming, with over a hundred reports of violence flooding in, leaving him with the task of \u201ccalling for clarification as well as punishment and reparation for rule violations,\u201d reports\u00a0Berliner Zeitung<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The professor says there is clearly enough evidence \u201cfor an official intervention on my part with the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n