How does someone come up with the idea of holding an event on police violation of justice? If the event was in the Anti-Discrimination Office in Istanbul this question would not be asked at all – the majority of people in Germany associate police violence with media pictures of Turkish policemen provoking the opposition. Police violence is therefore mostly seen as a phenomenon of a dictatorship and many people find it unthinkable that police officers in Germany would use violence.
However in our everday work at the Anti-Discrimination Office in Berlin we have to increasingly accept that violation of justice by police officers is not only imaginable but sadly, is a reality for many people. Time and time again people affected by violation of justice give reports of being insulted, threathened, robbed of their freedom, kicked and beaten by police officers. At the same time, the voices of those who want tougher legal proceedings in the fight against “leftists slobs,” “violent non-German nationals”, hooligans and Islamic terrorists are getting louder. As well as that, violation of justice is accepted along with torture and the dismantling of the constitutional state.
The everyday occurance of violation of justice and the powerlessness of many people to effectively resist it, led us to revise and hold a new “From Police Control to Violence of Justice” event, which originally took place in 2001. At this event we not only want to broach the issue of violation of justice, that is, being beaten, kicked, insulted and harassed by police officers but we also want to look at the internal structure of the German police force which allows and could even, as the case may be, be said to promote such violation of justice. We also want to answer the question, of whether violence is only used by thugs in uniform who are “black sheep,” not able to cope with the stress and frustrations of everyday work in the police force as is the case frequently put forward by politicians and police officers. In addition we analyse racism in the police force, which is evident in the victimisation and violation of immigrants. A further question we ask is why thugs in uniforms scarcely have to fear a conviction for what they have done while those affected by it are intimidated by counter-reports from police officers. Last but not least we look at the issue if and how violation can be avoided.
The problem of violation of justice is taboo in society and is also sometimes played down by those in authority although it can be a horrible experience for those affected and can mean a terrible loss of trust in police officers and the government and also leave those affected extremely traumatised. With this event we want to make a statement, make this problem more open and give a voice to those affected by it.
Have fun with looking at, reading, discussing and of course, critising this topic.
Anti-Diskriminierungsbüro (ADB) Berlin e.V.
© Anti-Diskriminierungsbüro (ADB) Berlin e.V.
Ausstellung: „Vom Polizeigriff zum Übergriff”
www.polizeigriff.de