Ceuta Police Officer on Trial for Beating Moroccan World Cup Celebrants

The two indicted agents and another who appeared as a witness declared that they had been dispatched to the Plaza de la Constitución, in the center of Ceuta, to regulate traffic on December 10 and that they had found themselves repressing about fifty Moroccans celebrating their country’s victory over Portugal in the World Cup.

The police would have used their batons first to "contain the crowd" and avoid damage. A woman, who filed a complaint, said she received a baton blow in the back and reproached the agents who did not react, which led her to call one of them a "subnormal". The police said they used their batons again against the woman as well as another and her minor daughter when they prevented them from arresting a man who was filming their intervention with his mobile phone.

The agents also said they reacted in a "proportionate" way and in compliance with the protocols, by carrying out "a zigzag sweep to hit the buttocks, thighs or muscles" of the protesters. "It’s easy to criticize, but put yourselves in their place. They wanted to avoid a greater evil," pleaded the police lawyer, after the projection of the videos of the scene during the hearing, asking for the acquittal of his clients and the conviction of the women to a fine of 15 euros per day for two months.

"Civil servants must know how to respond to a woman’s insult in a way other than hitting her," summarized the lawyer for the Moroccan women who expressly renounced any form of compensation, assuring that they only demand "justice" and "dignity".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCHea1wo_bs