Video of police violently arresting two unarmed Black men has sparked outrage in Spain.
In the video, a Spanish police officer appeared to have one Black man pinned to the ground in a chokehold before another cop repeatedly hit him with a baton. The second officer later was seen grabbing and punching another Black man who was standing nearby.
The arrest reportedly took place last month in a central Madrid neighborhood. A police source told the Europa Press news agency that the two men were "hostile" towards the officers and had injured one of them. According to the source, the pair was arrested for undermining authority. One of the men allegedly had drugs on him, the source said.
Video of the arrest sparked outrage across Spain. The antiracist campaign group SOS Racismo said the incident was “another example of how state security forces act in Lavapiés”.
“Those of us who live in this neighbourhood know that these actions are commonplace, and nobody does anything about it,” the group said in a statement.
“This police violence is unacceptable,” Isabel Serra, a spokesperson for the Podemos party, wrote on social media. “And unfortunately – or because of the complicity of the institutions – it is all too common. It is racism.”
Earlier this month, the interior ministry said its national office for the guarantee of human rights had launched an investigation into the incident.
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