7 ms·
A bunch of European countries have this. Some for several decades. Germany has had it for 3 and while the law states that its punishment is up to one year of pr
by rjzzleep 7y ago
A bunch of European countries have this. Some for several decades. Germany has had it for 3 and while the law states that its punishment is up to one year of prison, states seem to have in general reduced the sentence to 500-1500 Euros. [1]
Not really arguing pro or against, but I do find there to be a bit of hypocrisy in the media coverage.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-mask_law
- spacehunt 7y agoIn most if not all of these countries, the police have proper, clearly marked identification on them. Not so in Hong Kong.
- blub 7y ago...identification that they remove or lose before knocking some protesters over the head. Obviously China and HK are pathological cases, but police correctness in Europe also seems to be overrated. There was a bloodbath in Italy at the G8 summit. UK, France and Germany are better, but there's still cases of police brutality.
- tvxtergd 7y agoFrance better? There, the bloodbath has lasted a year so far!
- spacehunt 7y agoLook, did the police in Italy go right next to your house and tear gassed the whole residential area? That's my personal experience last night. I was just outside my home, not at a protest. And now I can't even put on respirators to protect myself.
- 74353throw 7y agoThe police in Philadelphia bombed an entire neighborhood. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing
- tvxtergd 7y agoIn most, if not all, of these countries' security forces have plain clothes police officers.
- luckylion 7y agoGermany does not have clearly marked identification for police officers at protests. It's an issue that is being discussed, and I believe they should have, but you're mistaken in believing that it is a thing.
- Rockslide 7y agoYes they have. The question is just if it has to be their real name, or if a number (which can be tracked back to the person by authorities) is enough.
- luckylion 7y agoSome states in Germany have (very!) recently started to implement it, but it's not a general thing. Here's a good overview: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennzeichnungspflicht_f%C3%BCr_Polizisten#Deutschland https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennzeichnungspflicht_f%C3%BCr...
- C1sc0cat 7y agoThe Uk police have had numbers for a very long time not sure if it doesn't go back to the peel days.
- swebs 7y agoInteresting that laws against masks started popping up after governments got their hands on automated face tracking software.
- easytiger 7y agoYou mean... cameras
- bathtub365 7y agoWith a fully automated system it’s much easier to track someone’s movements than it is if you had people watching cameras. The spread of facial recognition software is a differentiator worth pointing out.
- swebs 7y agoIt seems most of these weren't passed until after 2010, whereas CCTV was widespread since at least the 80's.
- wilsonrocks 7y agoIsn't CCTV bad at identifying faces though?
- swebs 7y agoCCTV just means the video feed is not broadcast publicly. Cameras can be as good as you're willing to pay.
- easytiger 7y agoOff the shelf CCTV is beyond terrible for most purposes concordant with this conspiracy theory. In a jurisdiction I know police always come to unrest etc with a van equipped with HR cameras. Those are then manually sifted post event to identify persons
- IfOnlyYouKnew 7y agoThe German law has existed at least as long as whatever face tracking software was state-of-the-art on AMIGA 500.
- hutzlibu 7y agoIn germany we have also a awesome law, that forbids "passive weapons" on demonstration. Yes, sounds good. Peaceful demonstrators should not have weapons. Only that "passive weapons" means all kinds of protections, like helmets, thick gloves and gas masks. So when he police hits you, how dare you to try to protect your head or face.
- toxik 7y agoIt is a bit disheartening to see how history is about to set itself up for a repeat of its posture in pre-world war times. If you want to know how it is possible for humans to make the same mistakes throughout history, look no further than this.
- cheschire 7y agoWell, yeah. You choose to wear a helmet because you expect to get hit. If you didn't expect to get hit, you wouldn't feel the need to wear a helmet. This is a de-escalation technique that functions well in advance of a potentially violent situation. Edit: for people downvoting, I would love to read your opinions too! The down arrow isn’t a disagreement button. It’s supposed to indicate a person isn’t contributing to the conversation. Otherwise you’re just enforcing groupthink.
- blevo 7y agogood point. I wear my seatbelt everyday when I drive my car because I'm expecting a car accident. Strangely enough, it has yet to happen and I have yet to need my seatbelt. What a waste! I think I'll just stop wearing it.
- cheschire 7y agoThere’s an element of intent which your sarcastic response doesn’t really account for. But yes clearly everyone who wears a helmet to a protest does not intend to start a physical attack. That doesn’t mean it’s not an effective preventative measure and de-escalating technique.
- wodenokoto 7y agoI was also surprised that Europe didn't feature more prominently in the article. I believe Denmark has had anti masks law for something like 2 decades now. It's hard to sit on our high horse in Europe on this one.
- reggintoggaf 7y agoIn some Euro countries anti-face covering laws were brought primarily as technically-legal ways to discriminate against a religious group (female face covering on Muslims). One example is Belgium.
- Circuits 7y agoImho, the real hypocrisy is that the authority would hide their faces while simultaneously demanding their opposition not have that right.
- wyuenho 7y agoThere's no hypocrisy, but this article is skimming on the most important piece of information. This ban is enacted as a law using emergency powers (which grants the CE almost dictatorial powers), meaning it bypassed the deliberations of the legislature, and worse, enacted, nay, decreed at a time when the government in HK has next to zero support except the police force. This is not only unjust and immoral, but just plain stupid, since this will only serve to further escalate the situation. It's simply amazing that 4 months since the first reading of the extradition bill, no one has died as a direct result of confrontation yet. But this decree may change everything.