Updated US Action Alert

US Citizen Arrested and Tortured by Belgian Police

Among 500 Arrested in Police Crackdown on Immigrant Rights Gathering

Last Friday, October 1 2010, during the No Border Camp: a convergence of struggles aiming to end the system of borders that divide us all, Marianne Maeckelbergh (US citizen and professor at the University of Leiden, Netherlands), a former Red Pepper worker, current contributor and a long-time global justice activist and the author of The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement Is Changing the Face of Democracy, was arrested for taking pictures while police were making arrests in Brussels, Belgium. 
 

Having just entered Belgium, some two hours earlier, she witnessed violent arrests on the street. When Marianne began taking pictures, she was arrested. She was taken into police custody where she was violently dragged by her hair, chained to a radiator, hit in the face, kicked, spat upon, called a dirty whore, and threatened with sexual assault by the police. She also witnessed the torture of another prisoner also chained to a radiator.

This did not take place in a dark corner of the police station but out in the open, directly witnessed by police station authorities, who gave the impression that this was standard practice. Police removed her ID card, USB stick, the camera with the photos on it, as well as 25 euros in cash – to date they have refused to return her property.

Here is a description of Marianne's treatment in prison:

http://www.mo.be/index.php?id=340&tx_uwnews_pi2[art_id]=29989&cHash=c7f254ce3e

Roughly 500 people were arrested, many preemptively, including people involved in the No Border Camp and other protest activities including an alleged attack on a police station. Marianne has now been released but as of Sunday 10 October, 2010 at least four people are still incarcerated.

Reports have emerged that two women were picked up by police while walking in the direction of the Gesu squat. While in custody they were forced to strip in front of male officers. One woman refused and had clothes physically ripped off her.  Other women have also reported rape threats by Belgian police officers.  Several other protesters received hospital treatment for broken bones and at one for a perforated eardrum.

Help is required to secure the release of the remaining prisoners and to let politicians know that police brutality, use of torture and threats of rape will not be tolerated when trying to silence democratic protests and the freedom of the press.

ACTION

-Organize or attend a protest or press conference at a Belgian consulate, embassy, UN office, Belgian Tourist Office, or US State Department building or email adam@wetlands-preserve.org or brandonjourdan@gmail.com for details and organizing advice.

- Call Belgium's US Ambassador, H.E. Jan Matthysen at (202) 333-6900 and Belgium's Ambassador to the United Nations Jan K.F. Grauls (212) 378-6300 to demand the immediate release of all prisoners and express your outrage at the torture, abuse, and unjust incarceration of Marianne and others.

- Call the Belgian National Tourist Office at Tel: (212) 758-8130. Let them know you'll be canceling your plans to vacation in Belgium because you no longer feel that Belgium is a safe tourist destination for US citizens based on this torture incident.

- Call your local Consulate or Consular Representative - find their contact info at http://www.diplobel.us/  -- the pulldown menu at the center of the page right under the words "To find the consular office in your jurisdiction,"

- Call the Belgium Desk at the US State Department (202) 647-6555 to express tour concern about the unjust arrest and torture of a US citizen in Belgium.  Also call US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at 202-647-4000.