Racism Report 2003 - Zara

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Page 30 Cases: Police Racism Report 2003other called for reinforcements. The customer was handcuffed and without further ado taken to the police station atthe railway station. The couple then closed the shop and followed to the police station with three other customers.There they were not allowed inside. The police officers stood behind the pane of glass at the entrance and made funof them in a provocative way: they imitated monkeys and one of them acted as if he was going to be sick. After about15 minutes the police released the customer. Because he had pains all over his body and felt weak Ms. S. called anambulance (in view of the police). He was taken to LKH in Salzburg - where, however, the two police officers werealready waiting and advised the doctor not to treat the patient. The doctor did not examine the patient but merelyadvised him, „Take some painkillers against the pain.“ Ms. S. the took her customer to Bad Reichenhall Hospital wherethe doctors immediately treated him professionally (blood sample, ultrasound, X-ray). He had a swollen arm and painsin the stomach area. The doctor said that he should remain in hospital for two day because he was much too weakand further complications should be avoided.On the following day Ms. S. wanted to report the two policemen but was told to come back the followingMonday. She sent e-mails to the police headquarters, the municipal authorities, the leader of the SPÖ (AustrianSocial Democratic Party) in Salzburg, Gabi Burgstaller, and the Green Party. She also informed ORF Salzburg whichimmediately sent a camera team to Bad Reichenhall hospital to interview the victim of police violence. The ORF teamthen also filmed her call centre and interviewed Ms. S. The report was broadcast on 12 October 2003 in „Salzburgheute“ („Salzburg Today“) (ORF 2). Ms. S. summed up: „In Salzburg it‘s not made easy for dark-skinned people. A fewhad already tried to open a shop before us but they always came up against the xenophobia and corruption of theSalzburger police officers.“ZARA asked the police in writing for a statement. The answer came by e-mail: „(...) A complaint quite similarto your own letter from Ms. S. dated 13.10.2003 is already with the authorities and being processed. In so far asmistreatment of S. by officers of the Federal Police Headquarters, Salzburg is alleged in the complaint, this incidenthas already been passed on to the Public Prosecutor‘s Office, Salzburg and is currently pending with a court. Theinvestigations by ho. into any racist behaviour by police officers have so far discovered no evidence. However, in thisconnection it should be stated that in an earlier incident Mr. S. also accused the police officers involved of racism.In the current case the human rights advisory board has already been brought in and in the next few days will checkthe results of the ho. investigation. Best regards, on behalf of the Chief of Police: Mag. Heinz Kitzmantel“ZARA made an additional complaint to the Independent Administrative Board.136137138139A. is an Austrian of Nigerian origin. In July 2003 he came to a counselling session. He described howMr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeitin March 2002 after visiting church in a small village in Styria he was stopped by the police. He was taken to thepolice station without being told any reasons. Mr. A. remained in custody for 15 days. He was accused of threateningbehaviour towards his wife. Apparently, his wife made a report - according to Mr. A. under pressure from the police- and then withdrew her statement and proceedings were abandoned. Evidence or witnesses this threatening behaviourcould not be found. After this experience he came to Vienna and did not want to return to the village becausehe was afraid. Mr. A. supposed that all this happened because of his dark skin colour. The time limit for a complaint tothe Independent Administrative Board has expired and ZARA therefore put Mr. A. in touch with a lawyer in Vienna.On 7 October 2003 an Ethiopian man was called a „Shit Nigger, arsehole, foreigner“ by a passer-by. The mananswered, „Those are Hitler‘s ideas“. The aggressor then called the police. The police officers listened to hisversion and paid no attention to the Ethiopian. They asked him for his papers and where he got his bicycle. Theychecked immediately whether the bicycle had been stolen although there was not the slightest indication that it had.When the victim‘s friend (an Austrian) arrived, they finally listened to him. A staff member of the Vienna IntegrationHouse (Wiener Integrationshaus) passed on the report to ZARA. Contact was made with the man involved and in acounselling talk it became clear that he did not want to let this unjustified treatment rest with him. However, becausehe was an asylum seeker he was afraid of possible negative consequences of a complaint. Therefore he finally justwanted to have the incident documented with ZARA.H. comes from Egypt and has lived in Austria for 13 years. He reported that in July 2003 he wasMr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeitmistreated by police at Südtiroler Platz underground station. Mr. H. was beaten while lying on the ground and thenarrested. Mr. H., who has hepatitis C, said that he was still suffering from the effects of this incident. His wife reportedthe police but they were found not guilty. In a countermove Mr. H. was charged with resisting the police in thecourse of their duty. A ZARA staff member accompanied him to make a statement at the police station. Here he wastreated normally by the police. The ZARA counsellor recommended a lawyer.K. is an Afro-Austrian of Nigerian origin. On the morning of 14 November 2003 he arrived at theMr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-ArbeitWestbahnhof station in Vienna and was subjected to a 40 minute-long, completely ungrounded police check, whichhe precisely recorded immediately afterwards:
Racism Report 2003 Cases: Police Page 31„Without demur I gave my identification papers where my name and nationality (Austrian) can be clearly read. TheWEGA officer began asking me questions. (...) - Listen, don‘t make a scene here or do you want to come along to thestation?Me: What‘s this all about? Why can‘t I go now? Please tell me the purpose and reason for stopping me.WEGA: Under paragraph 35a of the Security Police Law.Me: Firstly, I have already shown my identification, haven‘t I?WEGA: We‘ve still got to check it - it could be a forgery. And you [translator‘s note: using the familiar form „du“which in this situation shows a lack of respect] don‘t need to make a scene here, we‘re only doing our job.Me: Please don‘t say „du“ to me, I haven‘t allowed you to do so.WEGA: I can talk with you like I want! [Again using familiar form.]Me: No, you should address me with appropriate respect, and everybody else too, otherwise where would we be? Youcan‘t speak to me like that.WEGA: I can do even more if you come over so arrogant and loud-mouthed. And apart from that you‘re causing abreach of the peace here, and we‘re anyway only doing our job.Me: YOU stopped me, I wouldn‘t be able to breach any peace if you hadn‘t stopped me, and apart from that you arepreventing me from going about MY work. (...)“Eventually Mr. K. called a colleague from work to say that he would be late and then he called a friend who isa lawyer and who remained on the phone for the duration of the police action. More police officers arrived. Mr. K.discussed with the officers why the identification check was taking so long and he was threatened with a charge ofbreaching the peace. He then had to enter discussions to find out at least two numbers of the many police who hadarrived in the meantime. Looking back on the incident Mr. K. said, „I was ‚only‘ kept for quite a long time but notbeaten or searched or anything like that, only condescending remarks.“ZARA asked the police for a written statement. On 22 January 2004 ZARA received a letter from the Departmentof Information and Complaints of the Police Headquarters Vienna: „(...) Establishment of identity took place accordingto §35 Abs 1. Zi. 2 lit. a of the Security Police Law, under which police officers have the power to establish theidentity of a person if there is the urgent suspicion that a serious crime could occur at the place where that personis. As adequately documented, the police action began at 09:35 and was completed at 10:01. The whole police actiontherefore lasted 26 minutes. The period of time resulted from the fact that a computer enquiry and a registrationenquiry were made via radio, whereby in the framework of the large scale police actions taking place at the timethere were many other enquiries, which is the reason for the delay.As the police officers unanimously state, Mr. K. pleaded that he spoke bad German (sic), which is why the questioningtook place in English. The form of address was ‚you‘. The accusation of using the familiar form is firmly rejected.(sic) As the police officers state further the complainant continually tried to provoke the officers and was thereforewarned about a breach of the peace and making a noise. (sic) This was also documented by the officers involved on14.11.2003. It may thereby be stated in summary that the check of Mr. K. took place in accordance with the legalguidelines under the Security Police Law. The longer than average waiting time is regretted but was - as mentionedabove - unavoidable. With regard to the alleged use of the familiar form it must be stated that the accusation couldnot be objectified, even if the Vienna Police Headquarters is naturally aware of the problem of divergent statements.(...)“and Ms. R. reported an incident at Vienna International Airport, about which a written complaint 140Mr.Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus-Arbeitwas also sent directly to the Federal Ministry of the Interior: „On 29 October 2003 at 6 o‘clock in the morning wereturned from Tripoli to Vienna on an Austrian Airlines flight with a group from the University of Applied Art, Vienna- incidentally part of a project series for the improvement of relations with the Arab world. Already in the bus takingpassengers from the aeroplane to the arrivals hall - thus not in the passport control area - all ‚foreign‘ looking passengershad to show their passports and visas to three aggressively mannered policemen (two of them in plain clothes),with open doors and biting cold. The remonstrations of non-foreign‘ passengers for information and more politenesswere brusquely rejected. The tenor was: ‚You must leave this to us.‘ Incidentally, there was no cause for complaintagainst those ‚selected‘. In 40 years as airline passengers we cannot recall such a reception even in a declared policestate. We were ashamed to return to this country in this way. Who is embarrassed higher up in the hierarchy - andwill do something against such ‚normality‘ which poisons any civil climate?Mr. and Ms. R. received a reply: „The Schwechat Federal Police Headquarters regrets your subjective feelings whileborder controls were being undertaken. We understand your impressions, although at the same time the evaluationof ‚aggressive‘ manners is formed by personal ideas and due to the lack of mention of concrete behaviour it isdifficult to judge. However, Schwechat FPHQ makes ever effort to give its officers an understanding of behaviourwhich despite divergent feelings is socially acceptable. Although no argument can be brought against your subjectiveimpressions and judgements, the attempt should be made to explain to you the reasons for a border control in
Page 3 and 4: ContentsIntroductionPreface by the
Page 5 and 6: Racism Report 2003 Introduction Pag
Page 7 and 8: Racism Report 2003 The Death of Che
Page 9 and 10: Racism Report 2003 Cases: Public Sp
Page 21 and 22: Racism Report 2003 Cases: Media Pag
Page 27 and 28: Racism Report 2003 Cases: Racist Gr
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Page 37 and 38: Racism Report 2003 Cases: Public In
Page 39 and 40: Racism Report 2003 Cases: Work Page
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Page 45 and 46: Racism Report 2003 Cases: Against Z
Page 47 and 48: Racism Report 2003 Full Reports Pag
Page 53 and 54: Racism Report 2003 Focus Issue: Rac
Page 65 and 66: Racism Report 2003 Our Demands Page
Page 71 and 72: Racism Report 2003 Equal Opportunit
Page 73 and 74: Racism Report 2003 List of contribu
Page 75 and 76: Advertisement
Page 78: The ZARA team at the counselling ce

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