Having Chased Children With a Gun in Mardin, Police Officer Suspended from Duty

* Photo: Screenshots from the video captured at the moment of incident

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Sub-Governor's Office of Nusaybin has released a statement regarding the police officers who chased children playing in the garden of a housing estate in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin.

The Office has announced that one of the police officers who chased the children by firing his gun into the air has been suspended from duty. An investigation has also been launched against him.

The following written statement has been released on the official website of the sub-governor's office regarding the incident:

"On Sunday, April 24, when the curfew was in effect in our province, a group threw stones at our team working patrol in Fırat Neighborhood in our Nusaybin district. The police officer who got off the vehicle opened fire into the air for once with the aim of dispersing the stone-throwing group; however, he fired his gun into the air in an environment where there were children in an inappropriate and unacceptable manner.

"On the ground of this unlawful attitude and behavior as well as the failure to inform his hierarchical superiors about the incident, the related police officer has been suspended from duty and an investigation has been launched against him. The investigation is still ongoing."

He chased children by opening fire into the air

The video captured in Fırat Neighborhood in Nusaybin on April 24 shows that the police chased the children playing in the garden of a housing estate by firing his gun into the air and tried to detain them. While children ran to the buildings in the vicinity in fear, he held 8-year-old B.E. in his clothes and tried to take him into custody. B.E. reportedly has mental disabilities.

Nusaybin'de apartmanların önünde oynayan çocukları silahla kovalayan, havaya ateş açan polis açığa alındı https://t.co/qva1aJBBXc pic.twitter.com/aJN4UUIvfR

— Evrensel Gazetesi (@evrenselgzt) May 10, 2020

As reported by daily Evrensel, B.E. took refuge at the entrance of a building in fear. He was taken towards the armed vehicle by force.

While the people in the vicinity reacted against the incident, the police defended themselves by referring to the curfew. 

According to witness statements, B.E. wetted himself out of fear and he is still traumatized by the incident. (TP/SD)