Already since the beginnings of the distribution of emetics and the institutionalization of the system of emetic torture, diverse civil society protests and political resistance appeared. The initiative in memory of Laye Alama Condé sees itself in the continuity of these early forms of resistance against emetic torture and racist police violence.
In the early 1990s, the Anti-Racism Bureau (ARAB) began its work against Bremen’s brutalized and racist drug policies. The latter ranged from interference with freedom of movement – many affected persons were not allowed to enter entire neighborhoods (such as the Ostertor/Steintor) – to violent treatment: house searches, physical violence, dousing with cold water, use of electroteasers, chokeholds. The ARAB organized demonstrations, but above all informed the public. This ultimately led to the television magazine Monitor also reporting on the ruthless actions in Bremen.
As a result, the nationwide public also learned about the illegal use of emetics. Amnesty International took up the matter; Bremen’s politicians were put on the defensive. As a result, Bremen police doctor Männche resigned from the force and the number of emetics deployments fell sharply in 1995 and 1996.
The controversy over the assignment of emetics can be traced very well in the brochure Broschüre ‚Polizisten, die zum Brechen reizen‘.published by the Anti-RassismusBüro in 1995.
At the June 2014 hearing of the Initiative in Memory of Laye Alama Condé, two activists* looked back at the embattled early years of emetic distribution: the start of emetic torture in the 1990s and the prosecutions against its critics.
The entire hearing can be found HERE as a brochure and HERE as a video recording.
