2023-06-04 00:10:29
Between 400 and 500 people gathered on Saturday afternoon in Lausanne, a few days before the trial of the six police officers involved in the intervention which cost the life of Mike Ben Peter in February 2018. The demonstrators demanded “justice for Mike .”
It is the Lausanne collective Kiboko, created after the death of the Nigerian, who initiated this new gathering alongside several other organizations. “Our role is to continue to denounce police and racial violence, as well as the silence or even the support of the authorities,” said Sasha, one of the members of the collective, interviewed by Keystone-ATS. The demonstration was also intended to be “commemorative” in order to “keep in mind who Mike was”, she added.
Leaving under the sun of the Riponne, the procession then had to face a driving rain during its circuit in the city center. If several people preferred to give up and take shelter, most of them held out until the end. Several speeches were made along the way, mainly to shout down the police and “their murderous racism”.
The demonstrators notably stopped for several minutes in front of the police station, rue St-Martin, to whistle and shout slogans hostile to the police. However, no overflow was observed.
Three days of hearing
Highly anticipated, the trial of the six police officers is scheduled from June 12 to 14 at the cantonal courtroom in Renens. While their lawyers will plead the acquittal, the Public Ministry has retained the homicide by negligence.
For the lawyer for the victim’s family, it is homicide by dolus eventualis that must apply. In other words: the behavior of the police made possible a fatal outcome for the victim, and they would have put up with it.
The indictment tells the story of a tough arrest on February 28, 2018, near Lausanne station, during a drug check. Mike Ben Peter, who had hidden cocaine pellets in his mouth, had struggled with the police. To contain him, the police beat him and used pepper spray, before immobilizing him on his stomach and handcuffing him. He had died of cardiac arrest.
“Render” the lawsuit
For the Kiboko collective, it is “staggering” to speak of negligent homicide, which amounts to “denying the brutality intentionally inflicted on Mike”. Again on Saturday during the demonstration, the various speeches denounced “a beating”, “a racist expedition” or even “an authentic ratonnade”.
The collective and its supporters have planned to go to court during the trial, “above all to support the family”, said its activist Sasha. A “permanence” will also be set up in downtown Lausanne, where each day of hearing will be the subject of a “restitution” in order to ensure “maximum transparency” in this trial, she added.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats
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