Reader Jonathan Mai writes:
Regarding your interesting post about the brutal police attack on Professor Melamed it might be interesting to share some information on police brutality in Germany.
- There's a large amount of unjustified police violence against suspects, mostly with an immigrant background. (There's the still unsolved case of Oury Jalloh who in 2005 burnt to death in a Dessau police station under, to put it mildly, very unclear circumstances.)
- Policemen involved in alleged violent attacks are almost never found guilty in court. There seems to be a symbiotic relation between executive and judicial powers when it comes to police violence.
- Journalists almost never report critically on the violent incidents. As in the case of Professor Melamed they adopt the police strategy of denying the facts and literally copy the police reports on what supposedly happened.
- There's evidence that witnesses and victims to and of violent police crimes are threatened to take back their statement. A milder form of this strategy seems to have been applied to Professor Melamed.
The above points are presented in more detail in a post that also contains a link to a radio broadcast dealing with the same issue (both are in German):
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Unter-dem-Stiefel-4043782.html
In light of these facts the reaction of the Bonn mayor is also quite typical: Foreground the anti-Semitic attack (which is unacceptable to be sure) and remain silent on the really problematic issues surrounding police violence I pointed out above. The case of Professor Melamed is not an isolated case but part of a very troubling pattern.
I'm opening comments for those who have more information, useful links (in German or English), etc.
