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Police brutality is no joke, but I couldn’t help myself. When a Bereitschaftspolizist (anti-riot police officer) handcuffs a rowdy demonstrator, he mounts them like a wrangler riding an unbroken mustang. Of course, it is degrading to be hogtied in front of your friends and hundreds of cameras, and that’s part of the punishment, which I suspect also brings some satisfaction to the cop doing the deed, or consolation at any rate, considering the police are mainly there for crowd control, which also includes protecting their right to peaceful assembly. This is not to make light of German police abuses of power. Police culture favors the use of physical force when confronted, and an us versus them mentality, which is, however, often reciprocally matched by demonstrators.