• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• Belgium: Belgian police violence against demonstratorscommonplace

Belgium: Belgian police violence against demonstratorscommonplace

01 September 1996

Illegal use of violence by police against demonstrators has become "commonplace" according to a parliamentary report published in September. The "P" committee of the Belgian parliament, claims that police "regard violence as the most appropriate manner to maintain public order". The report states that even in the event of an officer breaking the law during the policing of a demonstration "nothing ever actually happens". The "P" committee back up its claims with a series of case studies involving police abusing demonstrators. Most problems apparently arise from so-called "administrative arrests". This law allows police officers to hold anyone who they suspect might commit a crime in preventative custody for up to 12 hours. According to the "P" committee much of the abuse that takes place tends to happen during this time. Charges that have been levelled by demonstrators against the police include the beating and wounding of people in custody, the denial of medical attention to a detainee with a heart condition, the removal of a mattress from a cell out of pure spite and putting one detainee in a cold cell without a blanket. Another cause for concern is the general practice of manacling peoples' arms behind their backs. This new trend is dangerous because people are then transported in police vans which are not designed with immobilised detainees in mind. The "P" committee does make a series of proposals to alleviate perceived problems. They claim that judicial arrests (which occur when a suspect is arrested by order of a prosecuting magistrate in a serious crime) have far less in the way of problems owing to the strict control that is placed over suspects in custody. They also propose to require police officers to explain their sources of information following one case where different police services investigating the same crime came to completely different conclusions. Gazet van Antwerpen, 30.9.96