Video shows police using excessive violence during a detention procedure

On Wednesday afternoon, police officers were summoned to pacify a man walking down a street in Bratislava Old Town. The man was armed with a knife and shouting religious exclamations. The man was detained and suffered "light injuries" in the process. Police informed about the operation on their Facebook profile on the same day, adding that they would release more information as soon as the situation allowed it. Nonetheless, the video of the detaining, spread on social networks, has raised controversy, as it shows police officers kicking the suspect in his head while he lay helpless on the ground. In the video, one of the officers can also be heard warning his colleague not to kick the suspect because they were being recorded. The immediate backlash prompted the Police Corps first vice-president Jana Maškarová to give a later statement, saying that it cannot be judged from the video whether or not the use of force was appropriate or excessive. "Currently, their [officers'] superior is studying the footage from uniform cameras... We need to realise, however, that the man was carrying a bag and the officers had to work with the hypothesis that it might have contained an explosive. In addition, the man was screaming "Allah Akbar". Because of this, so many officers were despatched and force was used," said Maškarová.