Today’s news / Tibet issue reopens in court

Tibet issue reopens in court

The Danish Parliament was misled and given false information by the police when politicians wanted to know how protesters had been handled during a Chinese state visit. The Tibet Commission established the issue some time ago. The new case is to decide whether a judge was also misled by the police. Two former senior officers of the Copenhagen Police have been charged with giving false statements when they were summoned to a court hearing ten years ago. The trial begins today, and promises to reopen the affair, in which police prevented citizens from free expression during the visit of then President Hu Jintao in the summer of 2012. Tibetan sympathisers had flags ripped out of their hands. Or they were ordered to put down the flag. Attempts were carried out to shield and hide protesters, in order not to embarrass the senior visitor.
     “Take the flag from them, come!” was broadcast over the police radio, and the voice behind it belonged to a police commissioner, who is one of the two defendants. He was the coordinating leader for several officers on the street. A total of nine court hearings are scheduled in Copenhagen City Court. Along the way, several police officers and protesters will be questioned, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gyrithe Ulrich told Ritzau about the process. Both former officers deny the charges. /ritzau