Finnish police officers guilty of unlawful conduct during protest
From last year’s protests to the Asian and European Countries Summit in Helsinki…
The Finnish Ombudsman has found some police officers guilty of unlawful conduct during last year’s Smash ASEM protest demonstrations. Deputy Ombudsman Jukka Lindstedt reprimanded a police sergeant and a Helsinki police station for wrongful arrest. Those wrongfully held were also allegedly denied fair treatment.
[...]The Ombudsman found that the act of breaking up the demonstrations was lawful, but the large number of detentions and their extended length were problematic. The Deputy Ombudsman questioned whether it was necessary to deprive so many of their individual rights.
And what about the unlawful conduct of the protesters?
Comment by Fred Fry — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
I don’t know much about the subject, but did the protestes act violently or did they provoke the police to use violence? If it was a peaceful protest then any kind of arrests would certainly be against the free speach.
Comment by me — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
#2- couldn’t agree more. Peaceful protest is an essential right we all have and must be protected. The time however comes when the peaceful protests have made their point and decide to leave and often it is then that the professional crowd comes in and spoils it for everyone. When these “professionals” take over and push the limits of the law, I then agree with Fred. The law and property must be protected and as far as I’m concerned the protestors give up a lot of rights once they break the law.
Comment by Punter — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
People need to be treated as individuals. Some came to protest peacefully, others came to throw bottles. Detain the bottle throwers, let the others protest in peace. The problem here is that the pigs treated everyone as bottle throwers.
Comment by Phil — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
There’s definitely an air of authoritarianism in Finland. It was even worse before when it was a real police state. I don’t think it’s beyond repair though.
Whereas I believe some reshaping of police behavior is needed, I don’t have tolerance for people who vandalize private property. That should be a top priority for police.
Comment by Kristian — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
Maybe I’m paranoid, but that picture looks hand picked.
Pigs, Phil? Classy.
Comment by maissi — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
“Vandalize orivate property?” Kristian, what about those that vandalize public property? They are just as high on my hate list. Vandalizing and defacing of public buildings, infrasctructure, statues etc all should be handled the same as if it was private property. We the tax payer have paid for it and we don’t need to pay for the repairs too.
As I said, protest peacefully (no damage to people and property) and all is fine, break things or people and expect to be broken back by the full force of the law.
Comment by Punter — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
Looks like that punk is in no position to Smash ASEM.
Comment by Anonymous — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 7:20 pm
The cops are pigs line? Well phil, you need to get out there and meet one. Try to ride one day in a cop car and see if you like it.
The donuts are good to go.
Comment by winter, "Yea, Proton Power, now in remission" — Thu, Nov 29th, 2007 @ 8:42 pm
As I recall, some people were merely coming out of the metro at the wrong time and were forced by police to head towards where the protesters were rounded up, thus coerced into ending up arrested.
Comment by Martin-Éric — Wed, Dec 5th, 2007 @ 2:05 pm