Lodz: Action against Police Brutality

About 80 people took part in a protest against police brutality in Lodz on April 26. The protest was organized by the local group of the Anarchist Federation. The demonstrators wanted to call attention to the problem of police violence and abuse of power by the police with the aim of controlling people and repressing social movements. Speakers told about different instances of police abuse and violation of the law. One example was how police raided a flat in Slupsk after a demonstration at about 6 AM, beating people and using tear gas. Even people who were sleeping were arrested. Although police are supposed to tell people why they are being arrested, the victims were not told the charges until they had already been in detention more than 12 hours.

Activists also spoke about a new wave of repression against foreigners, mentioning the recent raids ona dormitory for foreign students in Lodz and refugee centers near Warsaw. In the latter case, many people were beaten or roughed up for no reason. The situation with prisoners was also presented. Recently a scandal broke when one Romanian guy, who was most probably innocent, was left to die by prison authorities. Since then, some more cases of such abuse have been exposed. Activists spoke about the deplorable conditions in prison and the fact that people are often held in remand prisons even for years before coming to trial.

While the police were heavily guarding this very peaceful demo, demonstrators pointed out passerbys how the police film demonstrators and otherwise harrass them for no reason. The city adminstration forbid the anarchists from having a moving demonstration and even invented some non-existing conditions to prevent it. The anarchists spoke a bit about the role of police in society and handed out leaflets explaining, among other things, what rights people have in relation to the police. After about an hour, people were served a nice vegan meal made by Food Not Bombs.