Tackling protests in Europe

A total of 167 protesters suffered various injuries, 33 were hospitalised and two demonstrators were blinded in one eye during the turmoil. Although this is not the outcome of the Belarusian protests, Brussels maintains its cynical silence.

POLITICS AUGUST 21. 2020 12:20

Brussels declares its position

As the presidential vote in Belarus was „neither free, nor fair”, the European Union cannot recognise the election results, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said following the videoconference of EU heads of state and government.

The EU stands with the peaceful protesters and condemns the violence used by the Minsk „regime” against demonstrators, Angela Merkel added.

The EU s position was formulated after tens and thousands took to the streets and began days of protests following the announcement of the presidential election results. According to the results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko garnered 80.1 per cent of the vote while his challenger, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, received 10.12 per cent, Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported.

Calling the fairness of the election process into question and rejecting the results, protesters clashed with riot police who used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. At least two protesters were killed and thousands were detained during the crackdown on demonstrators. The government later apologised for the use of force and released more than 2,000 people from custody. Some suffered minor injuries like abrasions, while others complained about beatings, tight spaces and poor food in detainment. The government denied all allegations pertaining to the use of physical abuse against detainees.

At times, Brussels stayed silent

2018 saw a string of demonstrations in France that lasted for more than a year. The so-called yellow-vest protests were launched against the measures taken by French President Emmanuel Macron. The protests were initially peaceful, but they soon turned violent, resulting in frequent clashes with law enforcement officers. Police used water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds and arrested hundreds of demonstrators.

Brutality is not unprecedented in Macron s immediate environment, either. A private video that surfaced in the summer of 2018 shows a man dragging a female protester away from the crowd and savagely beating a male protester during the May Day march. The identity of the man equipped with a radio, a police armband and a helmet was revealed only weeks later: he was Alexandre Benalla, Emmanuel Macron s security chief.

After the incident Benalla was suspended for two weeks and then transferred to another district, but in July he was eventually dismissed as a result of the huge public outcry surrounding the case.

When Catalan leaders were sentenced to several years in prison in 2019 and people took to the streets to protest, police used rubber bullets against the crowd, blinding four protesters in one eye. Authorities resorted to similar crowd control actions after the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

In 2019, several advocacy organisations found that the Spanish national police and gendarmerie used excessive force in Catalonia.

In response to the accusations, the Spanish government said that police acted in an exemplary manner during the protests and there was no need to launch an investigation into police violence.

Following the presidential vote in Belarus, Josep Borrell, the European Union s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was strongly criticised after he had issued a declaration on the EU s behalf on the Belarus protests.

„On 9 August, presidential elections took place in the Republic of Belarus. The EU has been following the developments leading to the presidential elections closely. During the electoral campaign, the people of Belarus have demonstrated their desire for democratic change. However, the elections were neither free, nor fair. [ ] The people of Belarus deserve better,” the declaration said.

Borrell stated that the EU had called on the Belarusian authorities to release all the detainees unconditionally, and with immediate effect. Since the release of political prisoners in 2015, the relationship between the EU and Belarus had improved. But without progress on human rights and the rule of law, EU-Belarus ties can only deteriorate, he said.

Former Catalan Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont responded to Borrell s words by the following tweet:

Klara Dobrev and other MEPs of the Hungarian Democratic Coalition (DK) party have called on EP President David Sassoli to promptly place the events in Belarus on the parliament s agenda. The Facebook post below comes from Ms Dobrev, who also attached a photo depicting scenes of police violence during the Belarus protests.

Ms Dobrev, the wife of former Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsany, however, hypocritically hides the fact that in 2006 Hungary s left wing led by her husband had lied throughout the pre-election period. This is something even Gyurcsany had revealed by admitting that they had lied to the electorate and the European Union in order to retain power.

Gyurcsany s wife is also trying to forget that in 2006 thousands took to the streets to demand her husband s resignation after his leaked monologue known as the „Oszod Speech.”

The leak was followed by weeks of anti-government demonstrations in both the capital Budapest and the countryside. A series of protests involving hundreds of thousands of people began in October, but they were brutally suppressed by police chiefs who were following the prime minister s instructions. Police deployed horse-mounted officers who bolted amongst demonstrators and all those who gathered for a peaceful commemoration of Hungary s national holiday, with unidentified officers indiscriminately beating and tear-gassing people. Police fired rubber bullets that were not in regular use, causing permanent disability to several people.

As a result of the riots 167 people were injured and 33 needed hospital treatment, with two protesters left blind in one eye.

V4NA wrote to EP President David Sassoli, Commissioner Josep Borrell, European People s Party President Donald Tusk, Renew Europe party group chief Dacian Ciolos and Iratxe Garcia Perez, the leader of the group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

We wanted to know what they think about anti-government protesters being beaten or imprisoned, or about a prime minister ordering shots to be fired at crowds during demonstrations.

We received a reply from the Office of the EP President. If we were interested in the situation in Belarus, they wrote, then David Sassoli is „deeply concerned” about violence by authorities against peaceful demonstrators, as Belarusians have the right to protest and express their anger at the disputed election results and the non-transparent election process.

We also wanted to know whether the EP president would say the same in the case of other European states and whether he considered police brutality to be universally reprehensible, but so far we have not received an answer to our query.

POLITICS

Tags:

belarus, david sassoli, demostration, Hungary, josep borrell, klara dobrev, police brutality, spain, violence