Sunday’s gathering began at around 4 p.m. It was supposed to be peaceful, but a disturbance broke out. People shouted offensive slogans at police officers and threw dangerous objects at the officers and the police headquarters building.
The attackers used stones, bricks, bottles and Molotov cocktails. Several police officers were injured, windows were broken and the building’s façade was damaged and pelted with bottles of paint.
Protesters threw stones at a fire engine that was supposed to put out fires started by demonstrators. They also blocked an ambulance that had arrived for the injured. Police used smoothbore firearms, tear gas and a water cannon. They detained more than 40 people who took part in the incidents.
Why were people protesting?
The demonstrators believe that police officers exceeded their powers and treated 36-year-old Bartek brutally. During the intervention, the officers pressed the handcuffed man to the ground; this lasted more than 20 minutes. Bartek was under the influence of drugs and struggled. Later, while being pressed down by the officers, he called for help. At one point, he lost consciousness.
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Did the police intervention contribute to the man’s death?
“The case is highly scandalous. First of all, if we have a 65-kilogram man and as many as four police officers restrain him, what does that say? In my opinion, and based on what I initially know, he was suffocated. This person did not die in hospital at all; he died while lying on the asphalt, on the road—he was simply suffocated,” said in an interview for istotne.pl Dr Wojciech Kasprzyk, a lawyer representing the family of the deceased man.
It should be clarified that, in a press statement issued on Saturday, police reported that the man was handed over to medics and, due to his behaviour and accompanied by police officers, was transported to hospital, where he was then taken to the emergency department. Approximately two hours after he was transported to hospital, the duty officer at the Lubin County Police Headquarters was informed that the man had died.
Attorney Kasprzyk also reports that the second lawyer appointed in the case was not informed about the autopsy. In addition, the police officers who took part in the intervention were questioned without the presence of the family’s lawyers.
Who is investigating the case?
The case concerning the intervention on 6 August is under investigation by not only the prosecutor’s office but also the Control Department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław. It is also being examined by a team of experienced police officers specially appointed by the Chief of Police.