Locked in Cages, Beaten and Shamed: Virus Laws Lead to Abuses
(Bloomberg) -- When it comes to social distancing, some authorities are resorting to unprecedented tactics to try and slow the spread of Covid-19.
In India, baton-wielding police have beaten those who flout the curfew-like restrictions or fail to maintain physical distancing, while others have publicly shamed violators by forcing them do squats, push-ups, crawl or roll around on the streets. A video of a police officer writing “I have violated lockdown restrictions, keep away from me” on a man’s forehead, went viral in the South Asian nation. Action has been taken against the officer, Vivek Raj Singh, a senior police official in the state of Madhya Pradesh said.
Police in South Africa also forced people to roll along the road, kicking others as they performed squats for extended periods of time. After enforcing a 21-day nationwide lockdown on Friday, officers in Johannesburg were seen indiscriminately using water cannons on civilians and firing rubber bullets in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Heavily armed officers stormed apartment buildings to check residents weren’t violating a shutdown in which the sale of alcohol and cigarettes are prohibited. South Africa’s police spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.
In the Philippines, police and local officials have been accused by Human Rights Watch of arresting hundreds of people who broke curfew, social distancing and quarantine rules. In some cases, offenders were subject to public shaming and abuse as punishment for their crimes, including placing young people in dog cages and forcing others to sit in the scorching sun.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/locked-in-cages-beaten-and-shamed-virus-laws-lead-to-abuses/ar-BB122UaS?li=BBnbcA1
