"On December 25, I was a victim of police brutality . During a flight between Rome and Tel Aviv , after I boarded and took my seat, a steward approached me about an alleged problem with my documents and asked me to leave the plane. Confident in the validity of my documents, I calmly asked him what kind of problem it was. The police were called and I was handcuffed and forcibly removed from the plane."

Thus begins the long Instagram post by Stephane Omeonga, a 28-year-old Belgian footballer with a past in Italy between Genoa, Avellino and Pescara and who now plays in the Israeli second division with Bnei Sakhnin , a club known for having both Jewish and Arab-Israeli footballers in its ranks.

Omeonga also posted a video of the incident, in which two police officers enter the plane and go towards the footballer, force him to get up by grabbing him by the neck and carrying him out by force. "Once off the plane, out of sight of witnesses, the police violently threw me to the ground," Omeonga continued via social media, "they beat me and one of them pressed his knee against my head . I was then taken in a police vehicle, handcuffed like a criminal, to the airport. An ambulance arrived, but I, in a state of shock, was unable to answer the paramedics' questions. Shortly after, I heard the police car radio say: 'He refused medical attention, everything is fine.' This was completely false, I asked to be taken in an ambulance, scared of what the police could do to me."

"I was then put in a grey room, without food or water, and left in a state of total humiliation for several hours," the Belgian footballer emphasizes. And he adds: "Upon my release, I learned that a police officer had filed a complaint against me for injuries allegedly caused during the arrest, despite being handcuffed. Furthermore, to this day, I have not received any justification for my arrest. As a human being and as a father, I cannot tolerate any form of discrimination."

“This arrest is just the visible tip of the iceberg. Many people who look like me can’t find jobs, can’t access housing, or can’t participate in the sports they love, simply because they are black,” Omeonga said. “We must stand together and raise our voices to educate those around us, our colleagues, neighbors, and friends, about this issue that plagues our society and impedes its progress. Peace.”

Police sources, Ansa reports, explained that the Polaria agents intervened to get Omeonga off the bus because the footballer was on Israel's blacklist and therefore not welcome in the country.

Polaria, the same sources specify, intervened at the request of the airport manager and the airline commander. Before the intervention, immortalized by a video of a passenger in which Omeonga is dragged by force from the aircraft, there was a mediation of about 40 minutes. Then Omeonga was taken to the Polaria offices in Fiumicino and reported for resisting a public official and assault. Now he risks a further complaint for defamation.

(Online Union)

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