In Freiburg, racist police checks have repeatedly occurred in recent months, with the cops repeatedly using excessive force when those affected resisted. At the beginning of August, a man was checked by the police after he had taken his son to the daycare center.
The check took place directly in front of the daycare center and the cops forced him to empty his child's trailer and claimed that his bicycle had been stolen. It is obvious that the victim was only checked because he is black, and this is confirmed by the fact that the police officers behaved without any respect from the very beginning and adressed him on a first-name basis while he addressed them in a polite manner. The family and witnesses confirm this: There was no concrete reason for the accusations.
The family therefore filed a complaint with the police, which remained unanswered for weeks. Since the case became public through an article in the Badische Zeitung, among other things, the cops all of a sudden act in quite the hasty manner. It only took the police one day after the publication of the article to write to the family and threaten them with a trial. Although the family even turned to the police with their complaint, they accuse them of not having sought the conversation. Experience also shows that victims of police violence are badly off when they try to call the police to draw attention to their situation. In this case, too, the police are obviously trying to intimidate the family by threatening legal consequences.
That German cops are a bunch of reactionary chauvinists is nothing new, of course. But the ever-increasing extension of their powers allows them to intensify the terror against the masses more and more. The state that gives them these powers does not do so without reason. As the crisis and rebellions intensify, the ruling class is forced to defend its power with increasing use of force. The state gives the cops more power so that they can better develop terror against the masses.
