Amnesty calls for independent probe into OPP treatment of Mohawk protesters – Thestar.com

June 15, 2018

TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY—A decade has passed since relations between Indigenous people and police here reached a breaking point. And what happened after an explosive incident continues to be questioned.

Amnesty International is calling on the province to launch an independent probe into why OPP officers held five Indigenous men in plastic handcuffs for hours after jailing them following a 2008 protest near Prince Edward County.

One man’s wrists were tied together overnight in custody, Amnesty says. According to a former OPP officer and the force’s internal policy, that may have violated the OPP’s own guidelines.

Plastic or nylon restraints “shall not be applied tighter than required and shall be removed as soon as it is reasonable to do so,” Ontario Provincial Police Orders read at the time of the protest, according to a 2016 internal investigation the OPP conducted in response to pressure from Amnesty.

Read More: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/06/15/amnesty-calls-for-independent-probe-into-opp-treatment-of-mohawk-protesters.html