Skip to content or view screen version

Gothenburg police accused of manipulating riot footage

repost | 22.11.2001 22:31


Around the latest trials of those arrested in connection with the Gothenburg protests earlier this year, the police have been accused of manipulating video evidence...

Report from swedish press:  http://www.aftonbladet.se/

Polisen kan ha bluffat
webb-tv Riksåklagaren utreder misstankar om manipulerad film som användes som bevis efter Göteborgs-kravallerna.
Polischef skyller på tv för videofusk.
”Han skulle aldrig göra fel avsiktligt” Polisen som redigerade filmen får stöd av kollegerna.
Lena Mellin: ”Polisens film är inte mycket att bråka om, kan tyckas. Men det är den”.
Advokat Leif Silbersky: Rättssäkerheten står på

Links:
 http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,108227,00.html
 http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,108357,00.html
 http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,108234,00.html
 http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,108235,00.html
 http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,108236,00.html


Repost article from indymedia.org:
 http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=93230

Update on the Gothenburg riots (english)
by MM 7:44pm Tue Nov 20 '01

Chief prosecuter Björn Eriksson decides to start investigation again after having (finally) seen the film about the events.Documentary claims that police manipulated film material about the shooting.
When the news about the riots in Gothenburg during the EU-meeting came,the exact pictures of the shooting was shown all over the world.......expect in sweden.In sweden the population didnt get to see the pictures until 2 month after the shootings,and up til then it had just been fed by the policeversion of the events.That version said that a "hooligan" had attacked and thrown a stone against a policeofficer from behind in the head,and when he tried to attack the fallen officer again,a cop had no choice but to fired his gun.No wonder swedes were upset.

Now we know that nothing could be further from the thruth.The fact is that the 19-year old attacked a line of about 30 cops that had full bodyarmour,including shields and dogs.We know that he was completly alone ,because the police had fired shots before (6 of them) wich made everyone flee away from them.We know that the cop who was injured was in no danger whatsoever( he was way in the background and could not be reached by the 19-year old).We know that none of the stones hit ANY cop,or was even close to hit one.We know that ,not one,but TWO cops aimed and fired their guns against the 19-year old.And we know that there was no reason for them to fire at the protester.(this has all been shown on the film)

Chief prosecuter Björn Eriksson is ,however ,not aware of the tape until this day.He doesnt watch tv,or read newspapers.He doesnt even seem to bother to look up the evidence out there to get a full picture of what happened (after all,a prosecuter is suppose to be objective and look up facts that is both for and against the accused),instead he buys his collegues version completely (and prides himself about collegue code of honour and solidarity during an interview)and drops the pre-investigation.

This new material apparently comes as a complete suprise to him and has made him consider picking up the investigation again.He says though that he dont think it will change anything.

But this is not the real news.

Tonight in a documentary on swedish national tv it seems like the police have manipulated the film material on the events to try to make a stronger case for their fellow officers.In this documentary the filmer who made the now famous film about the shooting gets interviewed (a Belgian newsphotographer named Daniel Demoustier)to answer accusations that the film was edited by the reoprter who made the documentary.He assures that the film was not and showes the whole thing as he explains what happens.

However,the police have edited the material They have quite alot,it seems.

There were 6 cameras from diffrent angles on the scene during the event.Both the police and the reporter got them.But when the two is compared,whenever the material speaks against the police,it has been edited!This is not a lie.

The police claims that nobody reacted when the police shottheir guns before they shot and injured the 19-year old.This indicates that the 19-year old was NOT alone when he confronted the police.But when you look at the one that has not been with the police,you clearly see ppl screaming and running away,you also see the 19-year old walking back alone.

Whats worse,instead of the pictures of protester running away,the police have put in fast "actionclips" of masked teenagers brutally attacking a line of cops.This was however,wich you will see if you live in Gothenburg,on another place at another time (it was close to the place where the shooting took place).This gives the viewer the image that the police WAS in great danger and did NOT have any other choice but to fire their guns,when the real film infact shows that it was quite calm before,during and after the shooting.This is a trick that is commonly used by moviemakers to manipulate the viewer to think he is somewhere else than where they really are.

But this is not enough,ontop of this,the police have edited in shouts from a crowd screaming "ein swein,drein,nazi polizei" (sorry to all my german friends,i dont know how to spell it,i hope you get it anyway) during the pictures of the lone protester confronting the line of cops.It is easy to understand why;they want to make it appear that there was infact alot of more protesters behind the 19-year old.

IF this is true,and it sure seems that way according to the documentaryshow (uppdrag granskning,it is like "60 min",sort of),wich is the most respected (and best in my view) news show in sweden,this is an outrage.

FOOTNOTE:the 19-year old was sentenced awhile ago to 8 month in prison for rioting.

SOURCES:uppdrag granskning on swedish television,aftonbladet (newspaper),TT (news)

Ps:sorry for the grammarerrors,i didnt have much time.

repost