US Professor Accuses Belgian Police of Abuse

Icon_article Publié: samedi 09 octobre 2010 19:38 par Valentine Julien

Mots-clés: local nobordercamp action solidarité médias répression\contrôle_social vidéos sans-papiers\zonder-papieren

A Holland-based US professor and activist is accusing police in Belgium of abusing her as part of a crackdown on a recent protest for migrant rights. Dr. Marianne Maeckelbergh of Holland's University of Leiden says she was taking pictures of the "No Border Camp" in Brussels when she was arrested. Maeckelbergh says Belgian police dragged her by her hair, chained her to a radiator, kicked her, and subjected her to verbal abuse as well as threats of sexual assault.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NQfRsQRhnQ

 

 

Email Adresse e-mail de contact: kenjedit@gmail.com

Commentaire(s)

Protest Belgium Arrest/Torture Marianne Maeckelbergh/500 NoBorderActivists

Comment Publié: samedi 09 octobre 2010 19:52 par Valentine Julien

vrijdag 8 oktober Belgian Consulate, New York, USA

Last Friday, during the No Border Camp, "a convergence of struggles aiming to end the system of borders that divide us All,” Marianne Maeckelbergh, professor at the University of Leiden in Holland, long-time global justice, environmental, and animal rights activist and researcher and the author of The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement Is Changing the Face of Democracy, was arrested for taking pictures while ...police were making arrests in Brussels, Belgium.

Having just entered Belgium two and a half hours earlier, she was on the terrace of a café with friends when she witnessed violent arrests on the street. She went to take pictures and was herself arrested by the police chief. She was taken into police custody where she was violently dragged by her hair, chained to a radiator, hit, kicked, spat upon, called a whore, and threatened with sexual assault by the police. She also witnessed the torture of another prisoner also chained to a radiator.

This took place not in a dark corner of the police station but out in the open, directly witnessed by police station authorities who gave the impression that this was standard practice. Police removed her ID card, USB stick, the camera with the photos on it, and 25 euros in cash from her property and have refused to return them.

Roughly 500 people were arrested, many preemptively, including people involved in the No Border Camp and other protest activities including an alleged attack on a police station. As of Wednesday 7 October, 2010 at least one person is still incarcerated.

Your help is needed to secure the release of the remaining prisoner and to demand that the police be held accountable.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

-Attend the protest! Or if you live outside the NYC area, organize one in your city. Call (718) 880-7979 or email adam@wetlands-preserve.org for details and resources to organize an event.

- Call Belgium's US Ambassador, H.E. Jan Matthysen at (202) 333-6900 and Belgium's Ambassador to the United Nations Jan K.F. Grauls (212) 378-6300 to demand the immediate release of the last prisoner and express your outrage at the torture, abuse, and unjust incarceration of Marianne and others.

- Call the Belgian National Tourist Office at Tel: (212) 758-8130. Let them know you'll be canceling your plans to vacation in Belgium because you no longer feel that Belgium is a safe tourist destination for US citizens based on this torture incident.