[liberationtech] Documenting police brutality in Kiev

[Maxim Kammerer]

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Walid AL-SAQAF <admin at alkasir.com> wrote:
> Just notice how riot policemen intentionally wreck and destroy mobile
> devices one by one. Kind of confirms the LibTech notion, doesn't it ?

Fact is, you don't know why they do it. I can see at least several options:

1. Destroying communication options of opposing forces during the protests.
2. Retaliation to discourage further protests, as smartphones are
expensive, and Ukraine is a relatively poor country.
3. The protests are viewed as propaganda warfare by the authorities,
and contrasted with Orange Revolution, which is considered a case of
Western interests scoring a win using propaganda techniques.
Smartphone cameras are a tool used in propaganda warfare.
4. Preventing documentation of police brutality.

Last option is possible, but doesn't make much sense to me in a
country like Ukraine, since a much more effective tactic is to
document mob brutality (e.g., see a policeman hit with a stone at 3:10
in the video), and following it up with a few show trials.

-- 
Maxim Kammerer
Liberté Linux: http://dee.su/liberte