POLAND: REPRESSION

Brutal detentions of sleeping activists in Słupsk after anti-missile shield protests

Early morning, Sunday 30 March 2008, the day after protests against the US anti-missile missiles (en) (pl) to be placed in Słupsk, Poland, about 23-25 activists were detained (pl) in Słupsk, from several cities including Szczecin and Poznań. It appears that the police raided a private home while people were sleeping and that the human rights activists were brutally treated and beaten. Police used tear gas and one person has a broken hand. Please telephone to the police station in Słupsk at 3 maja Street +48 59 848 0545 and to the police command +48 59 848 0100. The police allege that the intervention was due to disturbance of the peace at night. There’s also a charge of assaulting a police officer.

• PHOTOS: [1] [2] [3] [4]
• ANTI-SHIELD PROTESTS:March 29-30: Stop the Shield! | Słupsk, Poland [1] [2] [3] [4] | Czech
• ANTI-NATO 2-4 April 2008: Anti-NATO Bucharest | Romania

more info from cia.bzzz

http://cia.bzzz.net/brutalne_zatrzymanie_demonstrantow_w_slupsku

Brutal detentions of demonstrators in Słupsk

Today at about 6.00 am, police raided a private home in Słupsk and detained about 25 activists including those from Poznań and Szczecin, who a day earlier had taken part in a demonstration against the anti-missile shield. According to the information available, the police intervention was brutal. The detained, who have been in contact with us, claimed that the police broke into the home, used tear gas and assaulted several people. One person has a broken hand.

Please telephone to the police station and ask about the detainees! The telephone numbers are below.

updates

Monday 31.03.2008

• all free, summary of legal charges last info, L. Akai 31.Mar.2008 21:27, Everybody is out. 8 people charged with: violating this “untouchability” of the cops, insulting (or not respecting) the cops and disturbing the peace at night. All the others are charged with disturbing the peace, even though most were sleeping. They all got fines of 500 zl. (more than 200 USD) for this shit. The other charges are the most common in Poland for demos and usually end in some suspended sentence and fine, although theoretically you can go to jail, and if you don’t pay your fine or don’t go to court, it’s quite likely.

• 17.00 – solidarity demo for the detainees and against police brutality in Toruń; correction to previous info: detainees were not from Toruń, but Toruń activists support all the detainees

• 15.40 – All the detainees have been freed. At 16:00 there will be a press conference including the ex-detainees.

Sunday 30.03.2008

• 20.00 – a police spokesperson claims that everybody will be free by 15.00 tomorrow

• 19.45 – 10 people are already free. Nine, who have been charged, will not be freed today. Lawyers from the Helsinki Foundation are monitoring the situation.

• 18.35 – two female activists have been released. The number of accused has grown to nine.

• 14.30 – the picket in front of the police station finished

• 13.30 – the police claimed that they detained 23 people, at least 6 have had charges laid against them. As our correspondent tells us arriving on the scene, the detainees say that the police attacked them in the morning as they were sleeping. The police were very brutal, and used tear gas in a confined space.

• 12.55 – presently there are about 30 people in front of the police station in solidarity with the detainees. They’re calling out: “Is that democracy?!”, “Belarus! Belarus!”, “Free the detainees”. Our correspondent reports that at least 3 people have been charged with “violating officers’ untouchability”, which is a standard charge aimed at reversing the guilt in the case when the police carry out a brutal attack

• 12.15 – a solidarity picket of a dozen or so people is taking place in front of the police station where the detainees are being held.

• 11.30 – our correspondent informed us that officially 25 people were detained. After the “After Party”, activists were surveilled by police. One person has a broken hand.

30 March 2008 Today at 12 noon, a solidarity picket for the detainees will be held in front of the Słupsk police station.

The police spokesperson in Słupsk claims that the intervention was caused by a disturbance of the peace of the night, and that some of the detainees may be charged with assaulting police officers. This type of charge against political and social activists is very often used by the police when they themselves use unjustified violence.

At the moment the detainees are being interrogated. Probably they will be taken to the police station in Słupsk at 3 Maja Street. More info is available at these telephone numbers:

• City Police Station (Komenda Miejska Policji) – +48 59 848 01 00
• Police Station Shift (Dyżurny Komendy Miejskiej Policji) – +48 59 848 05 45
• Police spokesperson (Rzecznik Prasowy Komendy Miejskiej Policji) – +48 691 420 538

Please everyone telephone to these numbers, ask for more information and protest against the arrests.

We’ll do our best to keep you informed of further developments