kropotkindersurprise:July 9 2019 - Eleven police officers were injured in Leipzig, after they attack
kropotkindersurprise:July 9 2019 - Eleven police officers were injured in Leipzig, after they attacked a group of around 500 people who had gathered to stop their attempt to deport a Syrian asylum seeker in the middle of the night. [video]/[article]A loosely translated account from a journalist who was present:A mob of masked policemen runs screaming through a street in the east of Leipzig. They are following passers-by, who just a few seconds ago stood at the intersection to watch what was happening on a parallel street. I myself am sitting on the bench of a restaurant at this very junction. I do not see anything, people I do not know are flushing the pepper spray from my eyes. In the background a bang. Glass bottles splinter on the asphalt. But what happened?Earlier in the evening, just after 10 pm, I received the news that a deportation was about to take place: a Syrian Kurd, aged 23, was to be deported to Spain. In front of the door of an old building are already an ambulance, an ambulance and a police car. Also around 20 persons had gathered. They did not want the deportation to happen without comment.A short time later, the door of the apartment building opens. One person is carried away in a stretcher by two paramedics. Later I learn that she is the mother of the young man. It is said that she was injured when the police stormed the apartment. Another squad of officers enters the house shortly thereafter. Only a few moments later, they reappear, in their midst they drag a man.The bystanders are perplexed, undecided what to do, perhaps shocked that the expected deportation is happening now so suddenly and quietly.Some ask the police what should happen to the man and if they have no guilty conscience of tearing apart a family in the middle of the night. […] The officers remain silent, make their way through the now more than 30 people and put the young man in the police car that’s waiting for him. The situation becomes more hectic and confusing, people yell things and appeal to the humanity of the police. The approximately 10 civil servants seem overwhelmed. Already at this time it seems the police are annoyed to have to deal with a press representative. A policewoman shoves me repeatedly despite the press card and stops only when the passers-by indignantly point out my role as a journalist.Some of the bystanders made a decision in those two minutes - and took to the streets in front of the police cars. There are about 20 people seated with their arms linked and repeat in a chorus: “Say it loud, say it clear: Refugees are welcome here.” Behind the police car, the same number of people have settled down on the street. The police get reinforcements, and surround the seated blockades. Even now I have to continue discussing, so as not to be sent away. More and more people gather on the sidewalks. Onlookers, it seems at first. But soon their chants join in and show solidarity with the blockers of deportation. […] At the end of the street, sofas have been placed in the middle of the street, people are smoking and talking to each other. A few plant pots limit the newly created seating area. About 400 to 500 people are probably present when the police brutally tugs two people from the sitting block in front of the police car. The situation is confusing, again I am repeatedly shoved by police, holding the press card all the time clearly visible in the hand. Around me a similar picture. The nerves of some policemen are obviously frayed. […] The police is trying to make their way through and is doing so with a hardness that I have not experienced for a long time. Myself, like another member of the press standing next to me, is at this moment being pushed hard by a group of policemen so that we eventually fall and land in the crowd. Passers-by try to help us up, the situation is confusing. Further down the street, bystanders are shoved by the police between two cars, a woman lies on the hood and gets no air. The faces of people are distorted with panic. People run in all directions. On the sidewalk on the other side of the street lies an unconscious person. Between the cries of the protesters and the shouted instructions of the police, there is the sound of breaking glass bottles.Some policemen fumble with their holsters or already have the pepper spray in their hands. I move to the side, close to the houses, holding up the press card with one hand. That hand still hurts now from the pepper sprayed on it. Several times I was sprayed. The last ray went right into my face. Policemen chase groups of bystanders until the next parallel street. The police have successfully completed the deportation. By all means. -- source link