Strength and Resistance Social Focus
Police violence against Roma people Who do you call when the police murders? by Jaqueline Schett Police brutality against Greek Roma people
One of the marginalized groups in Greece are
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When seeing a crime taking place or feeling
threatened, the first impulse of many people is to call the police for help. However, for marginalized groups the police is not a symbol of protection, but of danger and brutality. Who do you call when the police murders? The cases of police violence, that make it to the headlines often get dismissed as an exception, the officers committing crimes as “bad apples”, or even as heroes that were in danger and just tried to save their own lives. However, it is well-known that there are unproportionally many radical right-wingers or even neo-Nazis amongst police officers, and studies show that police officers are more likely to commit domestic violence against their family than the general population. While it is extremely concerning that the institution that is supposed to protect us apparently attracts these sorts of people, it is no coincidence. Racism is institutionally ingrained in the police, and the many incidents where people from marginalized groups become victims of police brutality are no isolated cases.
Roma people: they face discrimination and exclusion. Compared to 20% of the general population, almost 100% of the Greek Roma are at risk for poverty. Half of them don’t have access to electricity and sanitation. Racism against Roma people is widely spread in the Greek population, and police officers are no exception. There have been many cases where racism from police officers, against Roma people, lead to the death of persons from the community. Two recent examples are the deaths of Nikos Sampanis and Kostas Fragoulis.
“Who do you call when the police murders?”
On the night of October 22 of 2021, a car that
didn’t stop at a police checkpoint was pursued by police motorcycles in Athens. At least 36 shots were fired by the officers, and Nikos Sampanis, one of the three Roma occupants in the car, was immediately killed, another one deadly wounded. The third passenger, a 15-year-old, managed to escape the situation. Contrary to the officers’ claim that their lives were endangered by the teenagers, he later told the media that the car had already stopped and that all three of them had their hands in the air, when the police opened fire: “We were afraid they would kill
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