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– Widespread and egregious human rights violations are occured by police officers against protesters, medics, journalists and legal observers who gathered to protest the unlawful killings of Black people by the police in May and June of 2020, Amnesty International USA Reported.
Amnesty International USA Recorded 125 Separate Incidents of Police Violence Against Protesters, Medics, Journalists and Legal Observers in 40 States and D.C. During May and June Protests.
The report, The World is Watching: Mass Violations by US Police of Black Lives Matter Protesters’ Rights, builds on Amnesty’s interactive mapping of violence against protesters and new findings on the use of lethal force by the police. It is the most comprehensive human rights analysis of police violence against protesters to date.
The research consisted of more than 50 interviews conducted by AIUSA over several weeks in June 2020 highlighting people’s experiences in the context of the protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd.
According to this report, People Affected by Police Violence as Black Lives Matter Grows Into the Largest Social Movement in US History.
“The unnecessary and sometimes excessive use of force by police against protesters exhibits the very systemic racism and impunity they had taken to the streets to protest. The research shows that people who were simply exercising their human right to peacefully protest were met with such violence that they lost eyesight, survived brutal beatings, and suffered seizures and severe wounds,” said Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International USA’s End Gun Violence Campaign Manager.
Trump administration is now doubling down on military-style crackdowns against protesters
In a similar vein, Justin Mazzola, a researcher at Amnesty International USA said that the Trump administration is now doubling down on military-style crackdowns against protesters, with Attorney General William Barr’s egregious defense of the use of federal troops in Portland and threats to deploy more agents to other cities. Trump’s actions represent a slippery slope toward authoritarianism and must immediately stop. We need the country’s approach to the policing of protests to be changed from the ground up at the local, state, and federal levels.
Law enforcement repeatedly used physical force, chemical irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray, and kinetic impact projectiles as a first resort tactic against peaceful protestors rather than as a response to any sort of actual threat or violence. Violations of people’s rights occurred during arrests and detentions as well.
During the COVID-19 pandemic police fired tear gas and pepper spray, escalating risks for respiratory issues and the release of airborne particles that could spread the virus.
17 year-old Elena Thoman, who was tear gassed by the police in Denver, told AIUSA researchers: “At first it feels like the feeling when you’re chopping onions and then escalates to the point where your skin is burning…I had a lot of open skin and it was burning for an hour. It made me cough a lot — I had to take my mask off because the mask had tear gas in it…so even though there is COVID, I had to take my mask off.”
NBC News photojournalist Ed Ou, after he and other journalists were attacked by police officers in Minneapolis said: “They had enough time to shake the pepper spray and to spray it, despite me and others shouting, ‘Press, press,’ continually.”
AIUSA is calling on Congress to pass the Protect Protestors Act of 2020 (HR 7315). The organization is also calling on all law enforcement agencies to revise their policies and practices for the policing of protests, and comply with international human rights standards, including the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials.
