Greece, Lefkada Island: police brutality against a Roma

In Lefkada the oppression and abuses against the Roma pe
ople continue. In the afternoon of 14th August, four cops
(who didn't show their badges) brutally and without any
provocation abused a Roma youth and his mother during a
"papers please" ID check (Translator's note: in Greece
everyone has to carry a police ID card --the "papers"--
on their person or else face a few hours of jail time in
the local police station if discovered without papers).

His parents were asking the cops to cease beating their
son, but the cops answered by swearing at them and threa
tening them. The youth and his parents were taken by the
cops to the local police station, where the cops immobil
ised the youth and cleansed his blood with water. He was
then taken to the hospital where the medical doctor refu
sed to describe his findings on a paper, even though the
youth was asking for it repeatedly. The cops let the you
th free after one and a half hour, after he was made to
sign papers he couldn't read where he was accepting guilt.
His parents will sue the police.

See on video the gripping account of the Roma youth and
his parents, where one more time the abuses against the
Roma people in Lefkada are verified.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGp7psVdeG8

16 August 2009