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Fired at with stun guns at
California library
BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD —Special for Granma International
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THE fascist ambience imposed on
U.S. society by the Bush administration was once
again illustrated some days ago when Los Angeles
police officers fired a Taser stun gun on a student
who was not carrying his ID card in the library at
the University of California (UCLA).
A video of the incident, which
could have had fatal consequences, has been
circulated on an Internet blog by students
condemning the extreme violence used by the officers
from the notoriously well-known Californian police
force.
Security officers from the
university were carrying out a lightning identity
control check in the Powell library on the
university campus, as they do every evening after 11
p.m.
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a student
of Iranian origin, was working in the scientific
documentation center when the officers swiftly
descended on him asking to see his “Bruin,” the name
of the university’s ID card.
Realizing that the young man did
not have his card, they ordered him out of the
place. Tabatabainejad refused to leave, arguing that
he was studying and he had to continue with his
research.
The security guards immediately
called the Los Angeles Police Department, which sent
their patrol squad, armed with Tasers.
In the video broadcast on the
Internet, you can see and hear how the officers fire
their laser stun gun several times on the Iranian
student, who is screaming in pain and vehemently
protesting.
“Here is your Patriot Act, here
is your f***ing abuse of power,” cried the student
in front of several classmates, powerless witnesses
to the aggression.
The L.A.
police officers continued to abuse
Tabatabainejad when he had been
handcuffed and laid out on the floor.
The Taser is a stun gun, a
dangerous and repressive weapon that can cause heart
attacks and which is now being commonly used
throughout the country’s police force.
Translated by Granma
International |
