A large number of military police are tightly deployed! Meiru is on the verge of an enemy’s trial of "kneeling and killing" blacks, and the US media sighs: The entire United States is also on trial
[Global Times Special Correspondent Lin Ri Weihui in the United States] Concrete barricades and barbed wire fences were erected all around. Thousands of police and National Guard members were on guard... This scene resembled the surroundings around the US Capitol after the riots at the beginning of this year. The scene, now it appears in another city in the United States-Minneapolis.
On the 8th local time, the city began a case trial of concern-an African-American man Freud was "kneeled and killed" by the police.
In May last year, the video of Freud's dying struggle and his groan of "I can't breathe" before his death were exposed, which caused strong shocks in the U.S. and even the international public opinion field. Several months of anti-police violence broke out in the U.S. And racial injustice.
Now that the case is being tried, the protesters once again walked onto the streets of Minneapolis, and the local government was on the verge of an enemy.
Will the former police officer who led to Freud's death be convicted?
Will the case trigger a new storm of protests?
The most-watched trial in the United States in recent years is still full of suspense, but in the opinion of public opinion, one thing is certain that the country’s deep-rooted problems of police violence and racial discrimination will not be resolved because of this case.
"The whole world is watching"
Most of the ruins of the buildings after the riots have been cleaned up; there are still vacancies in the communities trying to rebuild, like scars; lingering wounds have kept the city in extreme anxiety; helicopters hovering in the sky, further aroused People's anxiety; people worry that with the appearance of former police officer Derek Joven in court, the city may be ignited again... On the 8th, the "Washington Post" described the tension in Minneapolis like this.
The Minneapolis downtown court area is even more of an enemy.
Concrete barricades and safety fences are set up around nearby buildings, and the top of the fence is equipped with barbed wire, like a military zone.
The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, where the city is located, has announced the deployment of a large number of law enforcement personnel to maintain safety, including 2,000 members of the National Guard and at least 1,100 ordinary law enforcement personnel.
Local officials also urged business operators to strengthen security measures, such as setting up barriers in front of stores.
The authorities have reason to be nervous.
On the 7th, the day before the trial proceedings began, thousands of people had already held demonstrations in the local area.
Agence France-Presse reported that protesters marched in Minneapolis with imitation coffins, demanding that the former police officer accused of killing Freud be brought to justice.
The demonstrators remained silent for most of the time, sometimes shouting: "There is no justice, there is no peace!" The protesters also held banners with Freud's last sentence "I can't breathe".
Many protesters expressed that they feared that the former police officer Qiao Wen who "kneeled" Freud would not be convicted, and warned that the consequences would be serious.
After the Freud case entered the trial process on the 8th, the first thing that day should have been the selection of jurors.
The Qiao Wen involved in the case faces charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.
In addition, he may also face a third-degree murder charge, which the prosecutor has not officially confirmed.
According to Agence France-Presse, the judge postponed the selection of jurors until Tuesday because of the pending three-level murder charges.
The trial debate is expected to begin on March 29, and the verdict will be reached in late April at the earliest.
Although the result has to wait for a long trial procedure, this does not affect the degree of concern of the case.
"The whole world is watching." The U.S. "Daily Beast" quoted experts on the 8th as saying that this case has caused huge discussions, and its results will have a huge impact on U.S. public policy, and the risk is very high. It's basically a political event."
The Washington Post stated that this trial is of great significance because in the past few decades, most of the police officers have been acquitted in a series of high-profile cases of police abuse and killing of African Americans and other people of color.
After Freud's death, the trial of Qiao Wen will certainly be regarded as a key test of judicial justice.
Video taken by passersby showed that Qiao Wen was kneeling on the 46-year-old Freud’s neck for 9 minutes.
The video subsequently triggered protests against police brutality and racial injustice around the world.
Agence France-Presse said on the 8th that Freud's death exposed the painful racial trauma of the United States.
Benjamin Kremp, a lawyer representing Freud's family, said in an interview: "Look at this video, you can hear him (Floyd) say'I can't breathe' 28 times." Qiao Wen And three other police officers involved in the case were fired and charged, but Qiao Wen had been released on bail.
Van Nate, a 43-year-old African-American woman who participated in the protest on the 7th, said: “I hope our legal system will allow all evidence to be presented and convicted, but I don’t expect that. If he (Qiao Wen) is free, I expect there will be More people took to the streets."
Police deaths of blacks are still frequent
According to Bloomberg News on the 8th, at least a dozen organizations are planning to hold further protests.
An unexpected incident in recent days has also exacerbated the local tension.
On the evening of March 6, a shooting occurred in Minneapolis, resulting in one death.
The location of the crime was the same intersection where Freud was killed by violent law enforcement in May last year.
Currently, the identity of the victim has not been announced.
Many people, especially people of African descent, do not expect much of the outcome of the trial because, as the US media said, there are endless incidents of people of African descent being violently enforced or even killed indiscriminately, but the police rarely convict them.
Even though Freud's death caused such a shock in the United States, violent law enforcement against African descent is still commonplace.
On March 1, the attorney of Jackson County, where Kansas City is located, announced that they would not prosecute the Kansas City police involved in the case for shooting and killing an African-American man last year.
On March 12, 2020, 47-year-old Donnie Sanders was shot and killed by police in an alley.
The shooting officer told investigators that he believed Sanders was pointing a gun at him.
But investigators said Sanders had a cell phone in his pocket and no weapons.
On the 23rd of last month, a grand jury in New York State announced that in the case of Daniel Prud, an African-American man who had caused widespread concern last year, after being suffocated by police, seven police officers involved would not face criminal prosecution.
After Freud, the US police's violent law enforcement against African Americans is far from over.
On June 12 last year in Atlanta, a 27-year-old African-American man, Leshard Brooks, was interrogated by the police because the parking place affected the customers of fast food restaurants to take meals.
The police opened fire when Brooks did not act aggressively, resulting in Brooks' death.
On August 23 last year, Jacob Black, an African-American man, was approaching his car while being checked by the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was shot seven times from behind by a policeman. Black was paralyzed by the shot.
On September 23 last year, Kurt Reinhold, a 42-year-old African-American man in California, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers on suspicion of crossing the road. The video was released by the police only recently.
"The entire United States is also on trial"
Citing statistics from 2019, CNBC stated that an average of 3 people died at the hands of the American police every day, and the police caused nearly 1,100 deaths that year.
According to CNN, police are more likely to use force against blacks. Studies have shown that black men are almost three times more likely to die as a result of police intervention than white men.
In some areas, the rate of police killing blacks is 6 times that of whites.
This difference is most obvious in Chicago in the Midwest and New York State in the Northeast.
In January of this year, Trump's supporters easily broke through the blockade and broke into the Capitol, causing an uproar in the world.
At that time, some analysts questioned the "white privilege" and put forward hypotheses: If black protesters are attacking Congress, can they still be treated so "ceremoniously"?
During the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council at the end of last month, a number of UN human rights experts issued a joint statement calling on the US government to adopt extensive reform measures as soon as possible to stop police violence and solve the long-standing "systemic racial discrimination problem" in the United States.
The disproportionate exposure of blacks to violent law enforcement not only reflects the long-standing social inequality and racial scars in the United States, but also further aggravates social antagonism.
According to a report by the US Newsweek on the 6th, the latest poll jointly conducted by USA Today and Ipsos showed that 64% of black respondents believed that Freud’s death was a murder, while only 28% The white people hold the same view.
The Boston Globe lamented that being a black person in the United States is like swaying between strength and tears.
Justice may still not come, but the facts speak for themselves.
Qiao Wen is not alone in the dock now, and the entire United States is also being tried.