Are the police justified in using militaristic tactics and equipment?
A few days ago Danish police cleared out a church occupied by Iraqi immigrant squatters who were protesting against deportation back to Iraq. During this action, many witnesses complained about the heavy handed tactics used by the police. Footage of police officers in full riot beating people with truncheons were featured in all the national media, triggering a debate regarding the way our modern police force acts and reacts to the public. Here is video footage of that event. One of the most prominent accusations levelled against the police has been their ‘confrontational’ or ‘military style approach’. The police defend this evolution as necessity. A few months ago, public outrage turned on the police for not preventing a crowd of left wing militants and anarchists from utterly wrecking a street in Copenhagen, to the tune of millions of kroner. The police, standing to one side in full riot gear had deemed it politic to refrain from any reaction due to previous criticism of their previo
