All Cops Are Bastards

“Israel has not achieved any of its declared aims, either in Gaza in Lebanon in, in Iran or anywhere else,” Bresheeth said in his speech.

“What has it achieved? Murder, mayhem, genocide, racism, destruction, this is what they’re good at,” Bresheeth said. “But they cannot fight the resistance, they have lost every single time.

“They cannot win against Hamas, they cannot win against Hezbollah, they cannot win against the Houthis. They cannot win against the united resistance to the genocide they have started.”

The police spokesperson said that the force is engaged in a “constant balancing act” and that it was acting to “prevent intimidation and serious disruption to communities.”

Bresheeth was released without charge on 2 November, after spending a night in custody, but remains under investigation.

The Jewish academic's arrest follows a series of raids and arrests targeting pro-Palestinian activists and journalists under anti-terror legislation.

In October, counter-terrorism police raided the home of journalist Asa Winstanley as part of an investigation under the Terrorism Act into his social media activity.

On 15 August, journalist Richard Medhurst was detained under section 12 of the Terrorism Act on arrival in the UK, allegedly in connection with his reporting on Palestine.

Less than two weeks later, pro-Palestine journalist Sarah Wilkinson was arrested by masked counter-terrorism police in a dawn raid on her home for allegations relating to content she had posted online.

Any use of force by police, especially deadly force, was entirely unprovoked. During her conversation with police, Massey got up to move a pot of boiling water off of the stove. Sean Grayson, the white racist cop who killed her, falsely claimed that she “came at him with boiling water”.

This was a blatant lie, as the bodycam shows her place the boiling water on the counter as instructed, and she was shot a split second later. Police continued to yell “drop the pot” after she had already done so.

Grayson, who killed her, also did not turn his bodycam on until after the killing occurred, so the only footage available is the angle from the other cop that was present. The two cops then stood around while she lay bleeding on the floor, refusing to render medical aid.

The police can be heard on the footage saying, “I’m not even gonna waste my medical stuff on her.” Not one bit of remorse or concern for her was shown by any member of the sheriff’s department in the half hour that followed the killing.

Grayson was fired and indicted on charges of murder by the Illinois grand jury, but this can hardly be considered justice. He had previous DUI convictions and has worked for at least six different police departments just since 2020.

If this were an issue of “bad apples” and not a whole rotten racist system, Grayson would never have been given a badge and gun in the first place. These killings would not be a daily occur[e]nce. Yet thousands of Black people, including those with disabilities like Massey, meet the same fate at the hands of the police.

Police in the U.S. treat Black people with the same dehumanization and ruthlessness that the [Imperialist] Occupation Forces subject Palestinians to. Both U.S. and [neocolonial] police as well as military forces operate as colonial occupying armies in colonized communities. Both commit unfathomable acts of violence on camera for the world to see, with little to no accountability.

Indictment is not enough. Justice can only look like a wholesale dismantling of the racist police and prison system as a bare minimum.

Cohen was covering a spontaneous protest that took place outside Likud headquarters on Saturday night after the conclusion of the scheduled rallies on Kaplan Street and Hostages' Square. A crowd of several hundred demonstrators gathered in the street, encircling a large metal box in which a fire burned underneath the words "No home." Police eventually used horses and physical force to disperse the crowd.

[…]

In addition to several violent arrests, protesters have sustained injuries from police-mounted horses and water cannons. Journalists and medical personnel have been subject to the same treatment as well, despite their protected status.

The past couple of weeks have seen the arrest of one doctor as he was administering medical treatment to a demonstrator, and another who suffered an eye injury as a result of a direct hit from a water cannon. Last week, Haaretz photographer Itai Ron was arrested while taking photos of the protest.

On Sunday, [Herzlianism’s] Public Defender's Office condemned what it called "widespread" excessive use of force by [neocolonial] police against protesters and called for the department of the Justice Ministry responsible for investigating police misconduct to address the issue.

The office released a statement saying that the violence evident in footage taken during anti-government protests "wounds the body and soul and tramples human rights," and that it "harms every part of [this] society and results in loss of trust in law enforcement."

Neocolonial police terrorizing a Jewish man in a wheelchair.

Neocolocial officer pushes a Jewish elder to the ground. He suffered a bloody face.

Neocolonial police push a Jew towards a fence.

Police forcing a Jewish man to lie down on the ground.

Police raiding the Mea Shearim Jewish neighborhood, physically abusing Jews and intimidating nearby witnesses.

Photograph of an officer literally dragging around a Jew.

Another.

And yes, in most of these videos you can hear the witnesses yelling ‘Nazi!’ at their oppressors. A couple of years ago it would have been startling to hear anybody—especially a Jew—liken Zionism’s neocolony to the Third Reich, but I think that the extermination campaign has really broken the taboo now.

Truly unfortunate. I propose an additional $50 million funding in police training will prevent such mishaps in the future.

Workers World spoke with encampment participant Nada Anusi, one of the students arrested May 10, who said: “On Friday morning, at about 5:30 am, we were woken from our sleep by the police with only two minutes left to gather our things and leave. While we anticipated a raid, especially in the early morning when community support and publicity there would be minimal, we did not want to leave the camp we built.

“The Ben Franklin statue [on UPenn Campus Green] became a site of resistance for students and campers. We all stood proud and strong as we watched hundreds of police storm the campus with wooden batons and riot gear. We knew what we were up against, and we were ready to face it, but the disproportionality of over 100 cops to 33 protesters was a disgusting view from the top of Ben Franklin.”

Anusi explained: “We were pulled off the statue by the cops, held tightly, zip tied and warned not to resist. Some of us were thrown onto the ground and dragged away, with bruised and dislocated shoulders. I was double-cuffed, patted down three times, shoved around, and violated in many ways. Despite that, the most upsetting part was watching UPenn police and the Philadelphia Police Department work together with the administration to take an entire encampment and shove it down a compactor.

“So much that was built, and from scratch, was destroyed. It was very wasteful. Very disturbing and an eerie reflection of what goes on at other encampments. For a minute, I imagined what it was like to be in Occupied Palestine and watch my family home get demolished with all the memories and life I put into it still there. It is not exactly comparable. I have a home to go to. But this was a place for me, as a Palestinian, to truly feel in community with those struggling alongside me.

Anusi concluded: “I participated in this encampment because I reached a point where my entire life is re-centered [on] Gaza. I live and breathe for Palestine and if that means I have to make all the noise in the world and continue to build while they destroy, then so be it. It is the least I can do. As an academic, the university serves as a proxy for my class struggle, for this anti-colonial struggle. More than 40,000 [people] martyred with all [their] universities destroyed, and it is about time we recognize our privilege in the belly of the beast and continue our global uprising.”

Even before they had finished with their mass arrests at Columbia, the cops sent significant numbers a mile or so north to CCNY. When they had what they considered enough force, they started to sweep the CCNY campus, arresting 179 people both on and off the campus. (Columbia Spectator, May 1) According to a May 1 morning press release posted to the CUNY “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” Instagram, the New York Police Department sweep resulted in multiple injuries.

“Police broke the ankle of an undergraduate student, broke the teeth of two protesters, attacked and burned many students, faculty and at least one journalist with pepper spray at close range, and beat many more with batons,” the news site City News reported.

When students, heartsick over genocide occurring before their eyes, confront established state policy, they get treated with the same police brutality, similar to their counterparts in Gaza.

Annelise Orleck, a 65-year-old Jewish professor at Dartmouth University, was floored twice by aggressive police officers who took away her phone while she was standing with pro-Palestinian student activists.

Orleck told reporters she felt unsafe on campus as a Jewish person but not because of her students, 'because police lifted me up and body slammed me, then arrested me'. She has now been banned from the Dartmouth campus, where she has worked for 34 years, under the terms of her bail conditions.

…wow.

Interview with the victim.

Within minutes, the Berlin police stormed the conference and forced the 250 attendees to disband. The police shut off the building’s electricity and demanded that the organizers stop livestreaming on their phones. Protests erupted in the surrounding streets, and riot police blocked and encircled the protest with vehicles. Many demonstrators were arrested.

The German state’s actions in suppressing this event and the subsequent protests have a precedent and represent an alarming trend in Germany and indeed in many [neo]imperialist states which use various instruments of state power to quash pro-Palestinian voices.

German authorities, as a pretext to justify their overreach, accuse activists like those connected with the Palestine Congress of being “antisemitic.” While German history dating from the […] Third Reich and prior antisemitism justifies the existence of laws against Nazi-type hate speech, the German state has distorted this justification and turned it into repression directed at anyone criticizing the repressive actions of [Zionism’s] state, even when these actions reach the level of genocide.

In the current confrontation, the Berlin police claimed that their raid on the Palestine Congress was due to such concerns of antisemitism. (Middle East Monitor)

German media resolutely parroted the state’s narrative. The truth is, as Dr. Abu Sitta said, that Germany is complicit in the genocide in Gaza and will not hesitate to obfuscate the truth and dispel dissidents to protect its interests as a capitalist [neo]imperialist régime that unwaveringly supports the […] occupation.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2280820

Please subscribe. Trying to help 'em out.

They even used the ‘leg on neck’ technique on him. Disturbing.

(Although the OP described them as ‘IOF stormtroopers’, judging by the outfits they seem to be riot police rather than soldiers. I can understand the confusion, though.)

ETA: Mirror, which includes a clip of IOF terrorists bullying a Palestinian child.

Cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/Europe/t/856426

I was at the Demonstration yesterday and a few blocks in front of where we were the Police arrested someone who chanted "From the River to the Sea" in the International Block and then got hit with flag Poles. Then Police knocked out a 65 year old man, and arrested 15 others some ended up in Hospitals. https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/466755.ll-demo-erinnern-und-k%C3%A4mpfen.html

On Wednesday, the police refused to approve a Jewish-Arab demonstration that was scheduled to take place at Habima Square in Tel Aviv on Thursday. It was organized by Standing Together and Women Wage Peace. These organizations appealed to the commander of the police's Tel Aviv district, Maj, Gen. Peretz Amar, asking him to approve the scheduled march and demonstration, even though such a demonstration does not require a permit.

The High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction against Ben-Gvir on Wednesday determining that he had attempted to stop a demonstration by Hadash in Tel Aviv, even though he was prohibited from intervening in concrete decisions relating to the freedom to protest or demonstrate. Following the police's refusal to permit the demonstration, these organizations will submit a similar request next week.

"A police force that refuses to allow a Jewish-Arab peace march is a political police force, protecting a minister who fears peace and prefers unending war," said Alon Lee-Green, co-national director at Standing Together. "If the police fears for our wellbeing, let them do their job and protect our march and rally."

Women Making Peace said that "refusing to approve the rally at Habima Square is unreasonable, and violates our right to make our voice heard in the public sphere in favor of a political solution. Thus far, the police have provided no reasons for their refusal. Suspicion arises that these are instructions from above. Only two weeks ago, a similar rally was held there, which concluded without a single problem."

It feels like the neocolony is getting closer to civil war.

One of the police even pushed an elder onto the ground.

NYPD trying to hide what they are talking.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1476769

If you're an abolitionist, it's a good article to read.

We have to have a peace movement again, I feel.

Photograph of the banner.