police brutality

The Baltimore Sun’s Reckoning On Freddie Gray

September 23, 2023 Justine Barron, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Media, Police, police brutality

Five days after Freddie Gray’s death, the Baltimore Sun (4/24/15) published on its website an interactive slideshow on his arrest, which it updated later that month as the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) added information. Audiences could click through a timeline of details of Gray’s long April 12, 2015, ride in a Baltimore police van, during which police reportedly made six stops before officers said they discovered their prisoner was unconscious. (Gray died on April 19, after a week in a coma.) The slideshow was almost entirely sourced from the statements given by BPD leaders during press conferences, without independent corroboration. In a new book, They Killed Freddie Gray: The Anatomy of a Police Brutality Cover-Up, I reveal extensive evidence that undermines most of what the Sun reported in its slideshow timeline. My book is sourced to discovery evidence from the prosecution of six officers that was never presented in court, internal affairs investigation files and more.

Dutch Police Use Water Cannon To Clear Climate Activists From Highway

September 11, 2023 Reuters. Resist! climate crisis, Direct Action, Police, police brutality, The Netherlands

Police in the Netherlands said they were deploying a water cannon to clear a major highway blocked by climate activists for the third straight day on Monday in protests over government subsidies for fossil fuels. Protesters earlier walked onto the A12 highway at The Hague around noon local time preventing traffic from using it, local police said. News agency ANP said dozens of protesters were blocking the major traffic artery into the Dutch seat of government in both directions. Over the weekend around 3,000 activists were detained by police during two days of protests on and around the A12.

Unlocking The Black Box Of In-Custody Deaths

September 6, 2023 Chris Blackwell, The Appeal. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Deaths, Police, Police abuse, police brutality

Arrest and incarceration are uniquely dangerous experiences, regardless of where they take place. People die every day in law enforcement custody. In jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers. On sidewalks, city streets, and in their homes. From violence, neglect, and suicide. Despite the frequency of in-custody deaths, their exact scope remains unknown and data is often intentionally obfuscated by the refusal of states to comply with federally mandated reporting requirements. More than two decades ago, Congress passed the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA), requiring states to report the number of people who die in custody or during arrest.

Helicopter Footage From Mass Arrest Reveals State Trooper Surveillance

August 17, 2023 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. Educate! Mass Arrests, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police, police brutality, Surveillance

Minneapolis, MN – High-tech surveillance video and audio communication from a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter, obtained and first published by Unicorn Riot, reveals some of the planning and tactics behind the largest mass arrest in recent Minnesota history. On Nov. 4, 2020, a multi-agency law enforcement operation kettled and arrested at least 646 people during a post-election-day protest calling for then-President Donald Trump to not ‘steal the vote.’ In an exclusive release, viewers are taken inside Minnesota State Patrol’s Bell 407 helicopter, N119SP, to see and hear the operations of authorities as around 700 peaceful protesters marched onto Interstate 94 in Minneapolis.

Raid On Kansas Paper Shows Perilous State Of Free Press

August 15, 2023 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Free Press, Journalism, Kansas, Police, police brutality

As the police raided Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer’s home August 11 (Committee to Protect Journalists, 8/12/23; AP, 8/13/23; New York Times, 8/13/23), his 98-year-old mother was aghast, watching the cops rummage through her things. “She was very upset, yelling about ‘Gestapo tactics’ and ‘where are all the good people?’” Meyer told FAIR. He said that after the raid she “was beside herself, she wouldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep and finally went to bed about sunrise.” Meyer’s mother, a co-owner of the paper, eventually told her son that the whole affair was “going to be the death of me.”

Traffic Stops Should Not Be Death Sentences

August 6, 2023 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. Resist! Police, police brutality, State Violence, Traffic Stop

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Around 2 a.m. on July 31, Minnesota State Patrol trooper Ryan Londregan fatally shot Ricky Cobb II, 33, during a traffic stop on Interstate 94 West near 42nd Ave. North. Cobb II is Black and Londregan is white. It’s yet another deadly incident in a long pattern of Minnesota authorities’ violent acts against non-threatening Black males during traffic stops. Instant outcry swept across social media and vigils, press conferences, rallies and protests have been held every day since the killing, starting with a vigil on Monday night at North Mississippi Regional Park near the Mississippi River off 49th Ave. North.

We Need A Gender-Inclusive Understanding Of Police Violence

July 26, 2023 Janine Jackson, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Strategize! Gender, Police, police brutality, Say Her Name

Like most powerful exercises, it’s a simple one. Professor and legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw asks audience members to stand as she lists names of Black people killed by law enforcement in this country, and to sit when they hear a name that they don’t recognize. For Eric Garner, George Floyd, Michael Brown, most of the crowd—whatever crowd it is, students, academics, the general public—stay standing. But when it gets to Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, it thins and thins. And by the time it gets to Rekia Boyd and Michelle Cusseaux, generally everyone is seated. Is that because Black women’s deaths via the same state-sanctioned violence that kills Black boys and men are less compelling?

Police Crack Down On Demonstrators; Protests Against Boluarte Government

July 25, 2023 Telesur, Orinoco Tribune. Resist! coup, Dina Boluarte, National Strike, Peru, Police, police brutality

This Saturday, thousands of Peruvians faced severe police hostility while taking part in the great national march against the government of Dina Boluarte, marking the context of the third Seizure of Lima. The demonstrators convened at various locations across Lima, including Dos de Mayo and Bolognesi Squares. From these points, they initiated a march towards the seat of the Congress, voicing slogans of discontent towards both the executive and legislative bodies. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, the Peruvian Police deployed tear gas against a group of demonstrators who were making their way from Abancay Avenue into San Martin Square.

We Need To Talk About Nahel

July 6, 2023 Patrick Lawrence, Scheer Post. Educate! Emmanuel Macron, Mass Action, Nahel Merzouk, police brutality

What is it about France these days? La republique seems to be ever on the brink of exploding over one or another social question. Twice in the past four months the French have erupted in protests and all too often rioting. In March they took to the streets, burned buildings, burned tires, built barricades, lit bonfires, and made impassioned references to the guillotine in reaction to the Macron government’s plans to neoliberalize the pension system. For a week beginning last Tuesday, cities from Lille to Marseille were set ablaze after the police shot and killed a 17–year-old citizen named Nahel, who was of North African descent.

Police Brutality, Racism And Poverty Underlie Youth Rebellion In France

July 6, 2023 Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report. Resist! France, Mass Action, police brutality, Racism, State Repression

A 17-year-old youth of Moroccan and Algerian descent named Nahel M was gunned down by the French police on June 27 sparking a nationwide series of mass demonstrations and rebellions throughout the country. Several videos released on the shooting show clearly that Nahel, who was driving a vehicle, was posing no threat to the police. There were two other people in the vehicle with Nahel, one of whom has given evidence to the authorities while the third person is being sought by prosecutors. The policeman has been indicted for voluntary homicide. In addition, reports suggest he has apologized for the fatal shooting.

France: Macron Shuts Down Internet And Fines Protesters’ Parents

July 4, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Emmanuel Macron, France, Human Rights, Internet Access, police brutality

As he had threatened days earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron decided to cut internet access in different locations on the outskirts of Paris starting on Monday, July 3. The French Ministry of the Interior explained via a statement that the restrictions are implemented in order to “prevent the abusive use of social media platforms to coordinate illegal actions and incite violence.” Previously, Macron had said that the protests originated from false publications on social media, violent video games and a lack of parental responsibility. He stated that on social media, there has been “unacceptable exploitation of the death of a teenager.

Protests Ignite Across France Demanding Justice For Nahel

July 4, 2023 Emma Lee and Otto Fors, Left Voice. Resist! France, Mass Action, Police, police brutality, Property damage

Last Tuesday, French police murdered 17-year-old Nahel M. in broad daylight in Nanterre, a town on the western outskirts of Paris. The teenager, of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot point blank at the steering wheel while driving through a traffic check. Huge protests have erupted throughout France against this racist police violence, demanding a thorough investigation and justice for Nahel. Demonstrations in cities such as Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Nice, and Strasbourg — and particularly in the working-class neighborhoods — have been explosive. Protesters as young as 13 have set fire to cars and trash, broken into stores, set off fireworks to battle the police, and even rammed a burning car into the home of Nanterre’s mayor.

Extreme Policing

May 12, 2023 Craig Murray, Consortium News. Resist! Elbit, Israel, Palestine Action, police brutality, United Kingdom (UK)

Monday was day eight of the protest at the Elbit Israeli weapons factory in Leicester. After seven days and over 60 arrests, fewer than 20 protestors remained. I learn that 46 protesters who have been arrested have been released on the bail condition that they leave Leicestershire County. Yes, the entire county. People arrested for doing absolutely nothing but exercising the democratic right to protest, are thus prevented from exercising that right further, without a long period in jail on remand. What is happening here is sickening. The protestors have been confined to a designated area by an order under the Public Order Act 1986. One demonstrator, who left the protest on Monday to go home, was detained by police for leaving the designated area.

UN Visits Minneapolis To Investigate Human Rights After Pressure Campaign

May 8, 2023 Marjaan Sirdar, Unicorn Riot. Resist! Human Rights, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police, police brutality, UN

Minneapolis, Minnesota - United Nations human rights investigators visited six U.S. cities that have been in the spotlight in recent years for police-involved killings of African Americans. The Minnesota visit comes after Twin Cities based activists organized petitions and letters to get the human rights panel to include Minneapolis in its tour. On May 2, the Urban League in North Minneapolis hosted two United Nations’ (UN) panelists and a room full of members of the Twin Cities Black American and African communities, along with the press, for a community listening session. At least 80 people were in attendance.

Who Gets To Talk About How Police Need To Change?

April 26, 2023 Julie Hollar, Himadri Seth and Isaiah Gutman, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Media, New York Times (NYT), Police, police brutality

Since the brutal police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, and the Black Lives Matter protests that spread across the country, how have news media covered issues of policing policy and police reform? To offer perspective on this question, FAIR looked at which kinds of sources have been most prominent in the New York Times‘ coverage of these issues, and therefore are given the most power to shape the narrative. We compared three time periods: June 2020, when the BLM protests were at their height; May–June 2022, leading up to and encompassing the two-year anniversary of those protests; and mid-January to mid-February 2023, when the police killing of Tyre Nichols was prominent in news coverage and reignited conversations around police reform.

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