According to reports and allegations, police officers, without provocation, used chemicals and attacked two people outside a basketball court on Strefi Hill.
A complaint detailed that police forces were present to protect contested development works. When the complainant attempted to enter the basketball court, she was blocked by the police officers and subsequently chased and hit with police shields to prevent her from entering.
The father of two children who were already playing inside intervened, and was allegedly beaten and sprayed with chemicals, along with the complainant. He was subsequently arrested and held on charges of resisting arrest, violence against an officer and attempted dangerous bodily harm. (see more about the incident and the complaints filed in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
In a state governed by the rule of law, the police authorities must be governed by certain principles, including the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition of the abuse of police power and the respect for and protection of human rights.
The powers of the police authorities and the conduct to be displayed by them in the performance of their duties are regulated, inter alia, by Decree 141/1991 and Decree 254/2004.
Although the police may use force to enforce the law, this does not mean that all use of preventive or repressive force by the police is lawful. On the contrary, the arbitrary use of the power to use force and police action in excess of legal limits is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.
The alleged assault of two persons and the unprovoked use of chemicals on Strefi Hill on 5-10-2022, however, appears to be beyond the limits of lawful police action.
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