2024-07-09 00:40:54
European authorities are promoting a “systemic regression” of the right to protested, which has led to illegal detentions of children and “spirits” of protesters, treated as terrorists, Amnesty International (AI) said this Tuesday. This is reflected in his report ‘Insecure and very restricted: The situation of the right to protest in 21 European countries’, which is based on interviews conducted between December 2022 and September 2023.
In the document, AI documented a “pattern of abusive laws,” excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and prosecutions, arbitrary or discriminatory restrictions, and the increasing use of surveillance technology. “Amnesty’s research shows a very disturbing picture of the brutal attacks across Europe on the right to protest. Across the continent, authorities vilify, impede, dissuade and otherwise punish people who protest peacefullyAI Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in the note.
According to this study, which has more than 200 pages, the authorities of countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey have used “terrorism-related” regulations and national security laws and faced criminal organizations to “attack” demonstrators in demonstrations and actions. of civil disobedience. In that way, he pointed to that “Peaceful” acts of civil disobedience are increasingly viewed as threats to public order and national security.which gives the authorities false pretexts to impose restrictions and avoid international human rights obligations.
For example, in the case of Spain, AI referred to the case of 12 people who were followed for crimes related to terrorism for the alleged organization of protests related to the independence of Catalonia. He also talked about 25 members of Futuro Vegetal being investigated for participating in “a criminal organization.” In Italy, five climate activists from the Last League group were placed under surveillance in April 2023 for “criminal organization.”
The human rights organization has also noted “various disturbing examples related to the criminalization, punishment and detention of minors“In protests, such as the arrest in Greece in 2020 of two 15-year-old students who were allegedly held for several hours in poor conditions without being able to talk to their parents.”
In addition, the NGO explained the statement published in the Greek media, after the protests of March 9, 2021, which describes beatings during arrests of protesters and allegations of sexual assault and abuse of detainees, including minorsduring violent actions between the police and people protesting for allegedly injuring an officer.
This report also refers to the use of “less lethal” weapons against the protesters who provoked them important and should not be harmedincluding broken bones and teeth (France, Germany, Greece and Italy), loss of a hand (France), loss of a testicle (Spain) and broken bones, eye damage and severe injury ( Spain) ).
In parallel, AI warns that it has seen cases of Police negligencelack of accounting and favorable legislation in countries such as Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
It also recognizes discrimination when it authorizes demonstrations according to movements, groups and causes, as in the case of demonstrations in solidarity with racist groups, the LGBT+ community and immigrants. “All over Europe, oppressive laws and policies combined with unjustified actions and a paranoid attitude are creating a toxic environment that poses a serious threat to peaceful demonstrators and protesters. This is an isolated incident in A country would be confused, but dozens of these acts of terrorism on a continental scale are clearly terrifying,” Callamard argued.
Amnesty International made several recommendations in its report, including respect for human rights, the right to privacy, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Some of the proposals include banning the use of biometric identification technologies that allow surveillance, ensuring that peaceful protests are not criminalized, ensuring activists’ right to privacy, and notifying people who have been investigate in those cases where possible.
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