Another case of police violence - our thoughts are in Mannheim

press report

We are shocked by the act of violence last Monday afternoon in Mannheim, in which a man was beaten up during a police check and then died in a hospital. Just last month, former UN Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer reported that German police authorities had a problem with the disproportionate use of force. This statement came true once more.

The State Criminal Police Office, which is taking over the current investigation, says that "the nationality of the deceased plays no role in the investigation". But it should in this case, because the number of over 200 fatalities from police violence in Germany since 1990 shows: police violence hits above all and disproportionately black people, Sinti*zze and Rom*nja, people of colour, indigenous people and generally racialized people. In addition, people with disabilities and people with mental illnesses like the victim of Monday's crime are up to three times more likely to be exposed to violence than people without disabilities or without mental illnesses. In addition, we remember the large number of illegal incidents within police structures: the scandals in the investigation into the threatening series NSU 2.0, in which sensitive data was queried from police computers and passed on, or various right-wing chat groups within the police. And these are just the cases that have come to the public. We know that this can also be traced back to racist and right-wing structures within the police force.

We demand complete, transparent and racism-critical education, consequences and justice. In particular, our thoughts are with the relatives, friends and all other affected people.

Against racism and police violence - always and everywhere.

More on police violence here.

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