And it may surprise you:

When M. began taking pictures, she was arrested. She was taken into police custody where she was violently dragged by her hair, chained to a radiator, hit, kicked, spat upon, called a whore, and threatened with sexual assault by the police. She also witnessed the torture of another prisoner also chained to a radiator.

Iran? Israel? Tunisia? Maybe even Egypt if recent blog-murmurings are anything to go by.

Well…

…it’s Belgium.

Last Friday, October 1 2010, during the No Border Camp: a convergence of struggles aiming to end the system of borders that divide us all, Marianne Maeckelbergh (US citizen and professor at the University of Leiden, Netherlands), a former Red Pepper worker, current contributor and a long-time global justice activist and the author of The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement Is Changing the Face of Democracy, was arrested for taking pictures while police were making arrests in Brussels, Belgium.

When I posted this on Facebook the initial reaction had a gender flavour.

I disagree: while Marianne was released on 6 October, four unnamed individuals remained in detention, gender unspecified.

This is a comprehensive abrogation of human rights and yet another indication of the bounteous hypocrisy to which Europe turns a blind eye.

Too busy wagging its finger at the East, such assaults pass unquipped.

Which is why we must not sit idle by; Alaa tweeted a revolution is needed: I responded there are too many countries, too many abrogations and too little time.

This could be viewed as nihilistic, but it is a depressing fact.

Nevertheless, action can be taken – click here to find out more.