Belgian police (illustration). – Aurore BELOT / AFP
The images went around social media. The publication on Twitter of a video in which we see two children of 11 and 13 years old – one of whom has his hands cuffed behind his back -, taken away by
police officers to their car, led the Belgian authorities to request an internal police investigation.
Two Brussels police officers accused are now the subject of an investigation which will have to determine the reasons which led the police to handcuff the children during an intervention Monday for an attempt to steal a scooter, explained Commissioner Gabriel Evangelisti on the private channel RTL.
As thousands of people take to the streets around the world to speak out against institutional racism & police violence …
In #Belgium, we learn that the police arrest and handcuff children. Shocked but not surprised.
Source: Radio RiveWest pic.twitter.com/kyLQMNXL99– BettinaG (@Bettina_CG) June 6, 2020
“It’s unbelievable that in these troubled times, the police manage to handcuff children”
The two officials intervened after a phone call reporting robbery, said Crown attorney Denis Goeman in Brussels. ”
Investigation then demonstrated that it was an attempt to steal an abandoned scooter on the public highway and the two children, aged 11 and 13, were released, “he said.
The decision to handcuff children outraged many witnesses to the scene. “There is certainly a training problem. It’s incredible that in these troubled times, the police manage to handcuff children and put pressure on the witnesses so that they do not film and do not report the event, that makes a lot of mistakes in a single sequence “, judged the general delegate for rights of the child Bernard De Vos.
–
