The investigations need to be conducted by the civilian judiciary, independent both institutionally and practically from the military chain of command.

Witnesses described a sequence of events on July 8, in which the military and police used unnecessary force, leading to the deaths of 51 protesters. Prosecutors have investigated only Muslim Brotherhood supporters and leaders for their alleged roles in the clashes, but not the military and police forces.

“The military has a track record of resorting quickly and excessively with lethal force to break up protests,” said Joe Stork, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Witness after witness described the military shooting into the crowd, including at unarmed people. The government needs to find out who was responsible and ensure they are held accountable if it hopes to show it will respect basic rights during this interim period.”

On July 8, army troops and police moved just before dawn to break up a peaceful sit-in of Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Violence broke out over the next six hours with military officers, including snipers posted on military building rooftops, shooting live ammunition, in many cases killing and wounding unarmed protesters. Protesters threw stones, Molotov cocktails, and in some cases shot guns. By the end of the morning, fifty-one protesters, three security force members, two police officers, and one military member were dead, according to the Health and Defense ministries.

The military spokesman, Col. Ahmad Ali, claimed that protesters tried to storm the Republican Guard building. Butthe military has not made public any evidence supporting its claim and Human Rights Watch found no evidence that this occurred, finding instead that protesters were peacefully praying or gathering when the military and police moved in to break up the sit-in.

Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters had gathered outside the Republican Guard headquarters on Salah Salem Street starting on July 5, and their numbers grew after the group called for a sit-in there on July 7.

Human Rights Watch spoke to 24 witnesses, including protesters and neighborhood residentsand interviewed seven doctors. Human Rights Watch also visited the site of the incident, four hospitals where dead and injured were taken, and the morgue, and reviewed video footage obtained from protesters and news outlets that Human Rights Watch considered credible. All those interviewed who witnessed the start of the violence agreed, and video evidence also suggested, that just before dawn on July 8, military troops and Central Security Forces, Egypt’s riot police, moved in to break-up the peaceful sit-in, simultaneously approaching protesters outside the Republican Guard building at one end of the street and outside the Mostafa Mosque, at the other end.

Security forces fired teargas and blanks into the air, and moved in on protesters from two sides by foot and with more than a dozen armored vehicles. The protesters backed off and scattered down side streets. Over the next four hours, the witnesses said, many protesters responded with rocks and Molotov cocktails as army troops shot live ammunition and the riot police fired birdshot into the crowd, which at that point numbered in the thousands. Witnesses as well as video footage viewed by Human Rights Watch confirmed that at least a few Muslim Brotherhood supporters had guns, and fired both live ammunition and birdshot. Military snipers stationed on nearby rooftops, and officers positioned elsewhere, shot a number of unarmed protesters or bystanders. It is not clear from the footage which side used live ammunition first.

In response to the killings, President Mansour ordered an investigation by a civilian “judicial panel,” but authorities have made no further information available about its composition and powers. The Constitutional Declaration announced by Mansour on July 8 gives the military justice system exclusive jurisdiction over crimes involving military personnel, meaning that this civilian panel could not investigate and try army officers involved in the violence. To deal with this and other incidents, President Mansour should issue another declaration to authorize independent civilian courts to investigate military personnel in the case of serious human rights abuses in which the victims are civilians, Human Rights Watch said.

“We have seen again and again how Egypt’s military justice system cannot investigate serious human rights abuses with any impartiality,” Stork said. “Military prosecutors and judges remain in the same line of command as those they are investigating, making independence and impartiality impossible.”

Prosecutors have announced only that they are investigating 206 Muslim Brotherhood supporters arrested at the scene and still in detention. Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 10 Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including the group’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, on charges of inciting violence in connection with the incident. No investigation of army or police personnel has been announced to date, though the vast majority those who died were among the protesters.

It is impossible to say precisely which of the lethal shootings may have been lawful – that is, where those killed were armed and shooting at security forces, Human Rights Watch said. What is clear from the death toll and witness evidence is that the army responded with lethal force that far exceeded any apparent threat to the lives of military personnel.

All of the deaths – protesters, bystanders, and security forces – should be investigated and those responsible for unlawful use of force should be prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said.

“This is the single bloodiest incident that Egypt has seen since the uprising against Mubarak, and it comes at a moment of extreme political polarization,” Stork said. “President Mansour should issue a constitutional declaration that will give independent civilian judges the authority to examine the responsibility of the military and police at all levels of command as well as demonstrators, and issue criminal indictments against those found responsible for using excessive or otherwise unlawful force and violence.”

On Friday, 1 February the suspects were arrested by the police in relation to allegations of their participation in a bank-robbery in Kozani, in the north of the country.

Police have said the four were injured during their arrest and that only necessary force was used, but family members and lawyers allege that there was no clash, and that the young men were severely beaten in detention.

“We are profoundly concerned about the recurring allegations of torture and ill-treatment by Greek police,” said Marek Marczyński, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Programme at Amnesty International.

Video and unedited pictures published by media show extensive bruising. However, the police released photographs that had been crudely edited to lighten or erase bruises and cuts.

In one case a suspect’s face in his photograph was unnaturally flattened by the removal of bruising. In another, the photograph was lightened so much that the suspect’s hair turned from brown to blond.

Despite this, the Minister for Public Order said that the editing was necessary to allow for the suspects to be recognized.

“The Greek authorities cannot just Photoshop their problems away. This culture of impunity needs to be stopped,” said Marczyński.

“There has to be an effective, thorough and impartial investigation into allegations of police torture. Such an investigation has to identify those responsible and they should promptly be brought to justice.”

Two of the four detainees are accused of being members of the armed group ‘Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire’.

In October last year 15 anti-fascist demonstrators were allegedly tortured by police following a demonstration.

The Commissioner for Human Rights revealed that between October 2011 and December 2012 more than 200 racist attacks were recorded by the racist violence recording network headed by UNHCR and the National Commission for Human Rights.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg. The fatal stabbing of a young Pakistani worker in Athens a fortnight ago by two criminals, one of whom was linked to the neo-nazi party of Golden Dawn, has rightly alarmed the authorities and made them more determined to fight and eliminate the scourge of racist and other hate crimes”.

“Many political leaders in Greece now realise the need to firmly condemn and sideline every person and organisation that promotes hate speech and engages in hate crimes. I welcome the establishment of the 70 anti-racist police units and the appointment of a special prosecutor in Athens to deal with racist crime. Both however need to be reinforced with appropriate staff and systematic human rights training.

“I also urge the Ministry of Public Order to take all necessary measures in order to create an independent and effective police complaints mechanism that would enhance the public’s trust in police forces. Such a mechanism is also necessary for the coast guard.”

The Commissioner added that “anti-racism measures by the government need to be combined with initiatives, such as the Athens city Council for the Integration of Migrants, that promote the political participation and integration of all regular migrants, especially of their children who are born and educated in Greece and consider it their home country. Naturalisation should continue to be possible for these children.

“It is now, more than ever, that Greece needs robust and effective human rights structures, able to support the state in its efforts to overcome shortcomings in areas such as the systematic human rights training of law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors and the monitoring, recording of and the fight against hate crime.”

The two security guards received minor injuries from the explosion, which occurred at 10:50 a.m., as the evacuation was still in process.

Although stores are closed on Sundays, cafeterias, restaurants and cinemas are open on a Sunday, with families flocking in the premises for lunch or a movie.

According to AMNA, the makeshift bomb consisted primarily of gelatin dynamite, possibly combined with ammonia nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO), that was placed inside a pressure cooker. Police found remnants of the pot and issued a call to the public for any information on the incident.

In its announcement, the police said that the construction of the bomb resembled those used by the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire terrorist group; ANFO has also been used by this group as well as by the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist group. According to tovima.gr, cctv material has shown at least four armed men involved in setting up the bomb package near the escalators.

Speaking on Skai TV, Deputy Interior Minister Haralambos Athanasiou stated that “such actions aim at harming the democratic regime and are trying to destabilize it. Democracy is not afraid of terrorism and such actions will not bend anyone’s determination.”

As I found out later, the men who stripped down were two. A 56-year-old American, who claimed to have been suffering from psychological problems, and somebody else. Rumours say he is British. The real question, however, is not the nature of their nationality, it is the reason that brought them to parade naked in front of the Greek Parliament.

Some people say those men were crazy, others that they were paid to shift the attention away from the protesters who flooded the streets during that day. In fact, much of Athens went into security lock-down during the week, and more than 6,000 police officers were needed to create safety zones for the German chancellor. In spite of them, the visit didn’t go down well.

Isolated, on Wednesday the German delegation might have noticed the lines of shops shuttered along the roads, and above them the locked flats. The economic crisis has altered the face of Athens. The divide between who has and who has not is visible in the way people carry themselves on the streets: they are either speeding away in a feast of fearful anticipation, or meandering helplessly.

On the whole, Mrs Merkel has become the embodiment of an imposed economic crisis for the majority of the Greeks, but another kind of demon is lurking around in the shadows. I am not sure those naked men aimed to challenge the German delegation; they might have been there to testify to Athens’ helpless battle against a much more sinister guest in town, the uncharted violence we are all victims of.

As criminality raises in direct relationship to unemployment, more and more people seek help from Golden Dawn. The party has recently raised to the third position in popularity, behind New Democracy and Syriza. Described by many as a neo-Nazi group, it has been accused to promote violence against foreigners living in Greece.

A few days ago, a Tanzanian community centre was vandalised by a group of 80-100 people in central Athens. This is neither an isolated violent attack on immigrants, nor the first one the party has been linked to.

The number of clashes between Golden Dawn’s members and anti-fascists groups are also escalating. On one of such occasions, 30th September, fifteen anti-fascist protesters were actually arrested in Athens and apparently tortured by the police in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA). Some of them stated they were burned on their arms with a cigarette lighter, and more, as the police officers threatened to give their home addresses to Golden Dawn, which holds a track record of political violence. In response to the accusations, Christos Manouras, the spokesman for the Hellenic police, stated that there was no use of force by police officers against anyone in GADA.

Where is Greece going?

Mistreatment of Greeks in police custody has been rare until this year, as well as attacks against foreigners. In a country that suffered very much from different forms of Fascism – first the Italian, then the German, and finally the Greek Colonels – the events taking place at the present time are difficult to believe.

Whatever these people try to achieve, it seems they are rapidly winning: foreigners are afraid, the population is overwhelmed by a daily routine that offers no positive aspects, the number of homeless people is alarming, and criminality has never been so high. It seems like the perfect recipe for a civil unrest that brings to mind the most dark pages of contemporary Greek history.

As I consider the eventuality of leaving the country, I recall the time I first arrive in Athens, when homes in the outskirts of the city were left unlocked. Nobody feared the man next door, and the policeman was a friend who offered you coffee now and then.

A large number of those arrested were reported to be of Asian, African and North African origin. Many have since been released because they were found to be legally residing in Greece.

According to Greek police, around 2,000 of those rounded up were found with no papers and were placed in administrative detention. People are being held in overcrowded conditions at the Attika Aliens Police Directorate or at other police stations in Athens. Others have been transferred to police academies in Northern Greece which are being used as detention facilities.

“While Greece has the right to control migration, it does not have the right to treat people in the street like criminals purely because of the colour of their skin,” said Jezerca Tigani, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Programme.

“The scale of the police operation in Athens at the weekend raises serious concerns about discrimination on the basis of perceived ethnicity.”

According to reports some people were transferred to police stations despite showing police papers proving their legal residence in Greece.

One of the men arrested on Saturday told Amnesty International that he was held at Petrou Ralli in a room with around 170 people. He said he was only given water on the day of his arrest and later could only eat bread because religiously inappropriate food was provided. Many detainees were sleeping on the floor and because of the overcrowding many were taking it in turns to sleep.

In view of the sharp rise of racially motivated attacks against foreign nationals in the past year, Amnesty International said it is concerned that such a massive and discriminatory operation will fuel further attacks and xenophobia

“Greece may be going through financial difficulties while at the same time facing one of the highest migration flows among the EU countries, but these police sweep operations violate international human rights standards and should stop immediately,” said Jezerca Tigani.

“Such arrests may put at risk of deportation individuals who are in need of international protection but are unable to apply for asylum.”

Two men (from Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire) were arrested and detained during the recent sweep operations and sent to Attika Aliens Police Directorate (known as Petrou Ralli) where they were detained until last night when they were transferred to another facility in Northern Greece.

An Amnesty International delegation met with the two men last month while they were queueing outside Petrou Ralli to apply for asylum.

One of them told Amnesty International how he has repeatedly requested to apply for asylum during his detention at Petrou Ralli and that his requests were ignored by the police.

“The Greek authorities must ensure that anyone wishing to apply for asylum is provided with effective access to it. They must also act to ensure that immigration-related detention is used only as a last resort. Those detained should be notified of their grounds of detention and of their rights and ensured access to their lawyer and the outside world,” said Jezerca Tigani.

Asylum-seekers in Greece often face serious obstructions when attempting to access asylum procedures. The vast majority try to apply for asylum at the Attika Alien’s Police Directorate at Petrou Ralli in Athens. Only a small number of applications are registered by the authorities each week.

Long queues of asylum-seekers wait in appalling conditions for two to three days outside the Directorate to lodge asylum applications each Saturday morning.

An Amnesty International delegation witnessed the poor conditions in immigration detention centres in Athens during a recent visit to the country last week.

The organization’s delegates visited six detention facilities in Athens including Petrou Ralli. While the wings visited at Petrou Ralli were clean at the time of the visit, the facility was in need of repairs. In two other facilities, those of New and Old Elliniko, conditions were inhuman and degrading.

“The Sudanese government needs to take decisive action when its forces shoot and kill students peacefully demonstrating against the government,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should denounce the illegal killings in Darfur and investigate those responsible.”

In Nyala, South Darfur, high school students started protesting on July 30 against transportation price increases. The following morning, police and national security forces dispersed the protests by shooting teargas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition at protesters, killing at least eight on the spot and injuring about 100 others.

As of August 2, at least 12 protesters had died, according to Sudanese nongovernmental groups monitoring the situation. A 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl, and four other teenagers were among those killed.

The protests started at schools, then spread to the streets, with some protesters throwing rocks at police, blocking roads, and vandalizing a government building. Police and national security forces used teargas and rubber bullets and fired rifles to disperse them, witnesses told Human Rights Watch.

“Police used live ammunition against students who were just carrying signs that say, ‘People want the downfall of the regime,’” a witness told Human Rights Watch.

The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provide that security forces shall as far as possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force. Whenever the lawful use of force is necessary, the authorities should use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Lethal force may only be used when it is “strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”

The Basic Principles also provide that “[i]n cases of death and serious injury or other grave consequences, a detailed report [on the incident] shall be sent promptly to the competent authorities responsible for administrative review and judicial control.”

On August 2, Sudan’s justice minister formed a committee to investigate the Nyala killings and present findings within two weeks. Sudan has repeatedly failed to investigate and hold those responsible for serious violations of human rights in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said.

Since June 16, Sudanese security forces have violently suppressed student-led protests throughout the country using rubber bullets, teargas, and batons. The protests started in Khartoum in response to price increases, and soon spread to other towns. Thousands have been arrested and state security forces have targeted human rights activists and other perceived opponents of the ruling party for arrest and detention.

“This is another test of Sudan’s will to end serious violations in Darfur,” Bekele said. “Authorities should immediately carry out a full and impartial investigation, and prosecute those responsible. The people of Darfur deserve nothing less.”

“We will try to evaluate the cooperation of the public but have not decided on how to reward them yet, but it will be something good,” said Colonel Mohammed Rashid Al Muhairi, Director of Tourist Police Department and director of the campaign.

Speaking at a press conference, Col Al Muhairi explained that the aim of the campaign is to prevent people from begging and even though the campaign is carried out throughout the year, it is intensified during Ramadan.

In the first six months of 2012, 201 men and 63 women were arrested for begging.

“Beggars take advantage of Ramadan and go to mosques and markets to ask people for money. We will concentrate on these areas, as well as residential areas, where police patrols will make their rounds especially during peak times,” said Col Al Muhairi.

The campaign runs until the end of the Eid Al Fitr holiday, and over 60 police patrols will take part in the campaign, which covers residential areas all over Dubai, as well as mosques, shopping malls, markets, petrol stations and parking lots.

He pointed out that each area is divided into three types of alerts: red, yellow and green. When a neighborhood is classified as yellow where a number of beggars have been reported, more police patrols will be then dispatched to prevent further beggars accumulating in the area.

Begging is against the law and is punishable as such.

According to Dubai Police, beggars will be arrested and deported within two days and the company responsible for providing a visa will also face penalties.

Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Dubai Police also encouraged residents not to give money to children who beg as it saves them from exploitation.

“People who have limited resources or face difficult situations in the UAE can contact any of the authorized charity and humanitarian organizations, who will study their individual cases and offer them help in a legal and safe manner,” he noted.

The campaign against begging is carried out in cooperation with Dubai Municipality, General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs in addition to the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities.