G8 protesters accuse cops of torture

Source: Evening Times newspaper (Glasgow) Thursday 14 July 2005

 http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5041138.html

G8 protesters accuse cops of torture

FOUR G8 protesters may sue police after claims they were psychologically tortured and mistreated while in custody in Glasgow.
They say that officers at Baird Street woke them up every hour as a form of torture, placed them in dirty cells and fed them sub-standard food and water that left them sick.
The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland refuted the claims.
Protester Dr Martin Kraemer, from Poland, claimed he was charged with a breach of the peace for refusing to stop playing his clarinet in Glasgow.
The agricultural scientist said: "The police wanted to provoke violence. In the end I was arrested for playing the clarinet. I found that funny."
He claimed he was deprived of sleep, woke every half-hour, locked in a filthy cell, stripped down to his underwear and denied water for periods of time.
He has made an official complaint against the police for violating his basic rights.
Businesswoman Zahra Quadir, 24, living in Edinburgh but originally from Afghanistan, said she was dragged without warning to a police van during a peaceful Glasgow protest.
She claimed the cell she was later placed in had excrement on the wall, floor and around the toilet seat and was cold.
She said: "I respected the Scottish police but have been traumatised."
Peter Wilson, Fife chief constable and Acpos president, said officers had "demonstrated a thoroughly professional and efficient service at all times".
All the protesters denied the charges against them and are to face trials in the autumn.