Sunday 5 June 2011

Statement Regarding Police Action during May 28 Protest

ZSP strongly protests against the actions of the police during Saturday's demonstration on Trzech Krzyży Sq. In Warsaw and against them in general.

While many millions of people in Poland are condemned to poverty, the government spends our public money on protecting the elites and (unsuccessful) attempts to scare the people that do not agree with this system and decided to publicly show their opposition. On Saturday, there was an army of police on the streets, making life difficult for ordinary people by creating cordons and detours. The police scared off and threatened many people on the way to the demonstration that if they go, they would not be allowed to leave. Police armed with tear gas was mobilized against demonstrators, there were snipers and a new instrument of repression, the LRAD.
LRAD is a brutal device, used on demonstrators in Georgia and Iraq, to break protests. A wave of sound is directed on demonstrators – this causes pain and sometimes rupture of the ear drums. This can cause permanent hearing loss and, in exceptional situations, even death, It is not used in other countries in the EU and it is considered to be too harsh.

Why is public money spent on such things and then the government claims there is not enough for hospitals, housing, etc.?

We demand our right to gather without the police trying to scare people and without instruments of torture on our demonstration. This LRAD must be destroyed and the police state dismantled!