Police violence is a reality in Belgium too. According to Committee P, the police force, there are around thirty judicial decisions in Belgium each year for this type of event. For its part, Unia, the former Center for Equal Opportunities, opened last year 80 files for discrimination involving a police officer. Our journalists met with victims and questioned a union representative.
Until May of this year, Diane, 32, a mother, had never been involved in justice. As she gets out of the metro without her mask, a police check takes a bad turn. “He pressed me against the wall. There are colleagues who have arrived. I got swept away, he stuck my head against the glass. He was strangling me. I even had it in my ear so much that it was violent“Diane describes to us, mimicking the violence she suffered.”He told me that I was only a big shit, that he was going to make me my business. That I was a big whore“, she adds.
According to Diane, the police accused her of not wearing her mask and of spitting when she was infected with coronavirus. Information that the young woman denies. She got tested the same evening and was not positive. Diane still does not understand how the situation could have degenerated to this point. “Because I coughed …? I don’t know … I coughed. Since we’re in a period with covid-19, all of that. He thought I spit on him“asks our witness.
Five police officers for an eleven-year-old boy… It’s too much, and it marks
If Diane filed a complaint, it is not the case Zamora and Yassine. Both say they are facing excessive police checks. One of them has already been beaten. “My first police check happened when I was 11 years old. I was coming home from school with my basketball. This policeman asked me for my identity card, out of nowhere, like that. Five police officers in total for an eleven year old boy… It is too much, and it marks in fact! And experiences like that, I don’t even count them anymore“, he laments.
Lack of communication?
Alvin grew up in a city. He was also subjected to police violence. Today he denounces a lack of communication during the interventions. “Apparently I cannot express emotion when faced with a control. I cannot give an opinion. I cannot ask the question of why. There is no tool for one to understand the other. So we fall into something where everyone plays the box in which he must play“, confides the young man.
To make believe that there is a racist culture within the police force, it is false
On average, nearly 30 court decisions are made each year in cases of police violence. According to an analysis by Committee P, the police, in these cases people of foreign origin represent one of the target audiences.
“Of the roughly 50,000 people who work in the police, I cannot tell you that there are not a few racists. It would be stupid of me to tell you that“explains Thierry Belin, secretary general of the national union of police and security personnel (SNPS).”But to pretend that there is a racist culture within the police is false. Has there been any abuse or contrary action, yes. Again, out of 50,000 people and as many interventions per day, you can imagine that from time to time there are things. But neither is it generality. So you shouldn’t generalize everything like that, I find it extremely dangerous“, he adds.
According to an analysis by Committee P, the majority of incidents of police violence occur during unplanned interventions, for example during checks.
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