ABOUT 100 residents demonstrated against police brutality after a disabled man was allegedly assaulted by a police officer last month.
Germond Eiseb (24) and his sister-in-law Marge Richter (39) were assaulted by constable Eliaser Iyambo on 19 April after they, together with Desmond Eiseb, were arrested for violating curfew regulations.
Siegliende Wetha-Doeses, who read the petition on Friday, said constable Iyambo abused human rights when he assaulted the two civilians, as seen in a video that is circulating.
“Article 8 (2B) of the constitution states that no person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” Wetha-Doeses emphasised.
She added: “We are not really safe in Namibia, especially in Khorixas. If law officers, the people that vowed to protect us, treat us the way Iyambo treated civilians in the circulating video. We are so disappointed.
The residents want justice to be done to the police officers who were charged and the police officer to make a public apology for what he did on the night of 19 April.
Wetha-Doeses said if the culprit is found guilty, the victims must be compensated.
In the petition, the demonstrators called on station commander Teofilus Ipinge to assure the public that the same incident will not repeat.
According to Wetha-Doeses, this case is symbolic of broader concerns about how the police deal with the members of the public, mostly where there are different indigenous languages.
The demonstrators knelt down several times throughout the demonstration, and several times outside the Khorixas Magistrate’s Court before the petition was read.
The kneeling was in solidarity with Black Lives Matter campaign.
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