The District Court of Helsinki started dealing with the case on Tuesday.
Prosecutor demands fines for the police for sixteen assaults at the environmental movement Elokapina’s demonstration in 2020. The Helsinki district court started hearing the case on Tuesday.
The issue in court is whether the police had grounds for breaking up a demonstration in Helsinki’s Kaisaniemi in October 2020. The police used gas spray when the demonstrators refused to leave the roadway.
There are seven police officers in the indictment, all of whom have denied the suspected crimes.
Three the police are accused of assaulting a total of sixteen protesters.
Assistant Crown Prosecutor Jukka Rappe starts from the fact that the use of gas spray against the demonstrators who engaged in passive resistance was not defensible and in relation to the seriousness of the situation.
Demonstrators have experienced, for example, breathing difficulties and momentary loss of vision from the gas.
In total seven police officers have been charged with breach of duty. In this group, in addition to the three accused of assaults, there are also police officers who managed the situation. The policeman who led the situation at the time of the gassing has also been charged with incitement to dereliction of duty and sixteen counts of assault.
According to the indictment, the Helsinki police did not have the right to force the demonstrators to move, because the demonstration did not endanger people’s safety, or unreasonably disrupt traffic, for example.
So it has been an interference with people’s basic right, i.e. freedom of assembly.
In their answers to the district court, the police deny the charges, for example, because they consider the use of force to be properly measured.
The answers say, for example, that the Elokapina practically blocked Unioninkatu for about three hours. The demonstration did not end, for example, with the police carrying the demonstrators off the street. It just moved to Kaisaniemenkatu.
The situation tied up large numbers of police officers, making it difficult to respond to calls elsewhere in the city.
Protesters was warned before using the gas sprayer, according to the police. The sprayer was used three times, in between there was a break of a couple of minutes, during which you could have left the street.
According to the police, all spraying took place according to the instructions from at least a meter away and spraying one person for less than a second.
According to the police, first aid has been offered on the sidewalk and those arrested have been given the opportunity to rinse and wash their faces in the police premises.
Read more: Six police officers are suspected of assaults and official crimes – The police sprayed gas on Elokapina protesters last fall
Read more: The ambiguities surrounding the Elokapina protests are eroding the credibility of the Helsinki police
Read more: The Police Board’s report on the use of gas spray was published
Read more: The person arrested at the demonstration tells about the events
#Powers #Prosecutor #police #interfered #basic #rights #Elokapina #demonstration #Helsinki
