On 25 October, CA attended meetings in the Parliament, and informed citizens about the consequences and developments after the protests. CA is communicating with citizens all the time and is documenting cases where the police torture occurred.
We have monitored the protest since we were aware that there will be attempts of manipulation, even though impartial information are important at times like these. We covered all the key locations and thus obtained data which denied some statements made by the authorities, such as the statement of Director of the Police at the Board for Security.
During the protest, CA monitors followed the conduct of police officers and invited citizens to report any irregularities and violation of power, and urged on reporting and submitting of examples of police torture. After the approval of the visit to the Security Center, we stated about the number of arrested persons and MPs, and our team placed at the Clinical Center delivered information on the number of injured citizens and police officers.
After addressing the media and reminding them about objective reporting, followed the calls to human rights lawyers, but none of them responded to provide free legal aid. CA researchers reminded that all persons deprived of their liberty have the right to legal representative, medical examination and phone call with the family after the very act of detention, but we also noticed that detained citizens were insufficiently informed about their rights in such situations.
Our monitors assessed that the protest was peaceful at first, although a certain dose of tension was present, and no one at the stage called on calming of tensions. A couple of accidents happened at the terrain , when one of our researchers was hit by the stone, but luckily with no serious injuries. According to estimation of the CA researchers, in certain situations the police exceeded competences after the initial legal basis for taking action. It was very difficult to work because of the firing of stun grenades and tear gas everywhere.
The day after the protest, CA team attended and monitored the meeting of the parliamentary Board for security in order to have independent monitoring, while the presence at the parliamentary collegium was not allowed by the President, although the majority of members supported the idea. CA team filed the first documented cases of police torture with audio and video recordings to the Council for Civil Control of work of the Police. During the protest, our cameraman recorded the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSLtabuc9SI&feature=youtu.be
CA team is collecting documentation in cases of torture committed by the police, exceeding of authority and violations of human rights and especially rights on gathering of citizens. We invite all citizens to contact us at [email protected], to follow our work on Twitter @GACrnaGora and in English @C_AllianceMNE or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Gra%C4%91anska-alijansa-274469272593718/and in English https://www.facebook.com/Civic-Alliance-1569450313270768/.
