Monday, March 17, 2008

The Illustrated Manual for Police Brutality

The New York Times is not usually a favorite of those of us who are, well, addicted to the news.

But there is always something to be thankful for, everyday. Like this picture which the paper used today:



It was taken by Sebastain Scheiner of the AP and is used here in an illustrative purpose.

It displays "Lesson #53" in the (fictitious) Police Manual for Methods of Applying Brutality.

Lesson #53 reads: "while your colleague(s) subdue a protestor, raise your right arm to his/her head level, take a step forward with your left foot, pretend to accidentally stumble, thus causing you to take a brisk and firm step forward with your right foot, thus causing your upraised right elbow to effectively smash into the protestors face. With any luck, you can even break his/her nose or at the very least, his/her glasses".

Other lessons:

#42 - When gently leading a protestor away, hold his/her hand in both of your and firmly press the his/her fingers together. With luck, you may crush a digit.

Like this:



and Lesson #77 - When carrying a demonstrator away, especially female, have two officers grab one leg each and then slowly separate as walking away.

Like this:



I found another legs version here:



And Maneuver #28, Twist Arm While Pressing Out Elbow here:-



Welcome to the Israeli Police, those guardians of civil rights and liberties.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've discovered that the police use force, lots of it. Boker Tov Eliyahu!

YMedad said...

Anon 2:29 - Nope. I may be guessing but I probably suffered not only more police brutality than you but it started probably before you were born. But instead of trying to be nasty with me, why don't you do something about police brutality.

Andy Levy-Stevenson said...

To put my credentials out front: I live in Efrat, and my politics in terms of Yesha are firmly, though not blindly, right of center.

Police brutality is dangerous, and should be protested and prosecuted whenever it occurs. But.

1. Your primer would be more credible if it was complemented by similar chapters showing similar brutality against chareidim, Arabs or, indeed, just about any group of protesters in Israel at some point over our history. If you only protest when it's done to "us", you're missing the point.

2. This group was very clear about its objective. They wanted to riot in an area of Jerusalem that is currently largely Arab - and they wanted to destroy a house. They wanted a confrontation, and they got one.

3. For possibly the only time I can remember, I find myself partially agreeing with an Arab MK, who was quoted as saying: "If it were Arab protesters we would have been counting the dead." He went on to criticize the "hesitancy" of the police, and another Arab MK claimed the police was aiding the protesters. Your pictures show that this claim is clearly nonsense, and I obviously don't agree with either of them on that issue. But the truth is that Arab protesters would have been handled with much greater force.

Again: I'm not arguing that police brutality in Israel should be ignored; it's real, and should be exposed and prosecuted. But it's hardly a surprise that last night's events met with a strong reaction and pictures such as this; that was clearly the whole point of the attempted riot.

YMedad said...

Andy, you're right and not-so-right. I agree that the police needed to use force to break up an ugly illegal attempt to commit violence gainst body and property which should have not been permitted a permit in the first place (okay, so the police are dumb). But I was simply zeroing in on the issue of police brutality, not the demo and therefore I did not need to refer to other issues. In picking up a girl, you don't need to open her legs or you don't need to crush fingers. Please refer to Amona.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this well- illustrated manual. Ouch!
We all need to see this -especially those who are not brave enough to get out there and feel it. But you know me. I've been there and done that during the Oslo protest years, and have since passed the rather painful tradition on to my kids (Gush Katif, Amona, etc...)
Ellen

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