Open Letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: The European Commission must prioritise addressing police violence and structural racism in the EU

CC to: Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, Commissioner Helena Dalli

Dear Ms. von der Leyen,

As organisations working for an equal and inclusive Europe, we would like to raise our serious concerns regarding the lack of real reaction of EU leaders regarding police brutality against people of colour in Europe as well as institutional and structural racism, following the killing of George Floyd in the United States and ensuing solidarity protests in Europe and across the world. We were appalled by the statement by EU Commissioner Schinas which delegitimises the public outcry against police brutality and institutional racism in Europe.

On 3 June 2020, Commissioner Schinas was quoted in the Financial Times as saying that events such as the killing of African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the wave of demonstrations against it, were “not likely . . . to happen in Europe at this scale”. “I do not think that we have issues now in Europe that blatantly pertain to police brutality or issues of race transcending into our systems. But we do have an issue in Europe, which is the issue of inequalities and income distribution — making the best for everyone of what we have.”

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Dislike racism? TAKE ACTION!

Yesterday social media sites were buzzing with videos showing a Hungarian national being insulted and slapped by a Maltese woman, and subsequently quite aggressively handcuffed by a number of Police officers.

Integration Posters

We were not present to witness the scene, but are nonetheless concerned at the apparent racist motivations behind the woman’s and the Police officers’ actions.

You can watch the news video here.

We’ve sent a letter to the Malta Police Force, requesting an inquiry into what happened. If, like us, you want these terrible incidents top stop, PRINT+SIGN+SEND the letter.

Go on, just copy+paste it from below…


Inspector i/c Complaints,

Commissioner’s Office,

Police General Headquarters,

Floriana

Dear Inspector,

We would like to draw your attention to an incident occurring today in Valletta, widely reported by national media. From the facts available to us, it looks like a number of officer of the Malta Police Force engaged in acts that amount to excessive use of force against one unarmed and cooperating individual. Furthermore, it looks like these activities were aggravated by racist intent.

We were not present during the incident, yet invite you to view footage of the intervention by the Officers as reported here:

http://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/news/filmat-arrestat-wara-li-taghtu-daqqa-ta-harta/

We trust that this matter will be given its due attention, in view of its very serious implications, and look forward to receiving your progress updates.

Yours sincerely,

XXXX