#police-violence

#police-violence

Black families who have lost loved ones to police violence said the killings in Minnesota have brought back painful memories of their own fights for justice as law enforcement agencies spun up narratives to suggest officers had no other choice but to kill their relatives. And these law enforcement agencies often make no effort to publicly correct misstatements or falsehoods that might have impact on a fair justice process, experts said.

"Stand up for America," Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, implored on Saturday, after federal agents shot to death another one of his constituents. "Recognize that your children will ask you what side you were on. Your grandchildren will ask you what you did to act to prevent this from happening again-to make sure that the foundational elements of our democracy were rock solid. What did you do to protect your city? What did you do to protect your nation?"

In a social media post on Monday about federal officers' killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, a Democrat representing part of Chicago, pointed out that DHS's purpose since its inception in 2002 has been to oppress those in the U.S. "The officer who shot Alex worked for DHS for 8 years. The officer who shot Renee worked for DHS for over 10 years.

As has been widely reported, Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and intensive care nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA hospital, was killed Saturday morning by federal agents who reportedly shot him 10 times after they'd already wrestled him to the ground and disarmed him. Pretti's death - the second at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis this month - and the Trump administration's lies about the circumstances that led to it have sparked outrage and protest, both in Minnesota and around the country.

The demonstration gathered at the shelter in the northeast of the capital where the man, El Hacen Diarra, 35, had been living and in front of which he was violently arrested by police on the night of January 14th. Video filmed by neighbours, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.

"Dismissal of the criminal charges is the appropriate outcome here," said Dominique Erney, Counsel, Justice System Reform at SCSJ. "Overly aggressive policing undermines public safety. Here, it placed our clients in a dangerous situation that was not of their making. They should never have been forced to endure this ordeal."

Colleges and universities hold huge influence in their communities. They can mediate differences and foster healthy debate. Indeed, several institutions have established schools of civic life that would, presumably, raise the alarm when constitutional rights are being violated. Academic research influences policy and informs public conversations. Scholars can put this violence into context and help remind us that this is not OK.

When George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, the nation's immediate reaction was one of horror. That included Republican commentators, who expressed their shock at the slow murder of Floyd by suffocation, agreeing his treatment was both brutal and excessive. President Donald Trump called Floyd's killing "sickening" and "revolting." There were stray voices who immediately blamed Floyd for his own murder-a preview of the position the MAGA commentariat would eventually adopt-but at least in the beginning, Republicans in power reacted to a heinous murder caught on camera with disapproval.

Like other more militant Black leaders and organizers during the racial upheaval of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Brown decried heavy-handed policing in Black communities. He once stated that violence was as American as cherry pie. Violence is a part of America's culture, he said during a 1967 news conference. America taught the black people to be violent. We will use that violence to rid ourselves of oppression, if necessary. We will be free by any means necessary.

Wooden stakes bearing pictures of young men were driven into the yellow sands of Copacabana beach this week, opposite Rio de Janeiro's swanky hotels on Avenida Atlantica where 300 mayors and their entourages were staying during the C40 World Mayors Summit. Smiling up at the mayors in their hotel suites were photographs of four officers killed in what was the deadliest police raid in Brazilian history, just a few days before the summit.

Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has said his government will seek an independent investigation into what he called a disastrous police massacre that left at least 121 people dead. Four officers and at least 117 others were killed when police launched a major assault on two of Rio's largest clusters of favelas, the Complexo do Alemao and the Complexo da Penha, early last Tuesday to execute 100 arrest warrants.

Twenty years ago, a tragic event changed the direction of my life. Three teenagers from the banlieue of Clichy-sous-Bois, north of Paris, were returning from a football game one afternoon in late October 2005 when they were chased by police. Zyed Benna, Bouna Traore and Muhittin Altun had done nothing wrong (an inquiry later confirmed this) but were so disoriented by fear of the police, they hid in an electricity substation.

Jean Villanueva's father is a bus ticket collector in Lima, working on one of those vehicles that move amid honking horns and fear. He is one of the targets of the mafias that collect extortion fees from ticket checkers and drivers people who, like so many others, leave home every day without knowing if they will return. Pessimism and weariness are spreading in Peru, but Villanueva, a 29-year-old accountant, prefers not to wait for the country to change on its own.

Prakash Bohora was one of the first of Nepal's gen Z protesters to feel the sting of a police bullet. Like thousands of other young people, he had taken to the streets of the capital last month to protest against corruption and a draconian ban on social media. He had no idea on that day in Kathmandu that the demonstration would escalate into what is now described as Nepal's gen Z revolution,

At least 1,000 anti-government protesters have marched in Madagascar's capital to demand that the president resign, as police used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. The demonstration on Thursday comes in the third week of the most significant unrest to hit the Indian Ocean island nation in years. Organised by Gen Z Madagascar, which describes itself as a peaceful, civic movement,