I went to visit the German and his son yesterday - the pair who were arrested and beaten. Some technicolour bruising to behold I can guarantee!
It appears that they were crossing a square near the flaspoint in broad daylight at walking pace and were snatched, beaten, bound with plastic cord and chucked in the back of a police vehicle. They were then taken to an old warehouse near the harbour which was being used as a collection point for "criminals".
In the end there were several hundred detainees at this facility, probably half of whom were over retiral age - the rumours of the police modus operandi of snatching anyone they could lay their hands on seems to be somewhat supported by this observation.
Apparently the detainees were ordered to sit on the floor and from time to time policemen would beat individuals about the head for some supposed infraction of the unknown rules of this dungeon.
This German is a man of no great stature and he would have offered no physical threat to anyone - he was wearing open-toed sandals for God's sake! His son's hand is disabled following a fracture some years ago. Wire surgically implanted to hold the bone together makes it painful for him to grip anything and he cannot shake hands properly - of course this is where one gentle policeman whacked him with his riot club after arrival at the dungeon.
The police excelled in their professionalism even more - they failed to note that the old gentleman had a penknife in his pocket so when he was eventually unbound he then proceeded to cut the plastic cords restraining the wrists of 20 or more other detainees. The police guards failed to notice this yet they were able to single out individuals upon whom to rain blows. Curious.
One aspect in which the police were very professional was that they had apparently removed all name-tags and ID numbers from uniforms. Are you accountable officer? Of course not you bloody fool, sir!
