Doragon
Tribune
People’s Mercy
(Sequel of Justice Derailed)
For a while society seemed to head back in the right direction, until the neo-fascist populists won the elections. A new government was formed and within two years society was transformed in accordance with party policy. Strict laws were instated against abortion and prostitution, women lost the power to vote and homosexuality was considered severely deviant. Of course they didn’t go back to the mistake of having public corporal punishments, fearing another uprising. The Chloe Waterhouse incident was still fresh in everyone’s mind. Instead they convinced the population that the country was now free of crime. Those that were apprehended and convicted as criminals were either sent to secret rehabilitation centres or, in some rare cases, executed in special prisons, far from the public eye. But people knew of course.
1. Arrest and verdict
“We have the right to protest!”“No, you don’t. Those laws were revoked over a year ago.”
“It’s a travesty of justice!”
The girl with the short blue hair was clearly the loudest of the bunch and probably the most angry one. Though they all appeared to be quite angry and the policemen were careful to keep the line. They all remembered what an angry mob of women were capable of.
“Male chauvinist pig!” spat the blue haired girl at the officer standing in front of her, adding more saliva to the already smeared riot shield he was holding.
The order to charge and apprehend the girl with the blue dyed haired was communicated through their earphones. The police officers close to her jumped forward and after pushing the women around her back, they quickly closed around their target and dragged her away from the mob. The line quickly withdrew, as the other women angrily beat the riot shields with sticks. The riot police used their sticks in turn to keep the women at bay.
The girl had fallen and screamed while she tried to protect herself from the blows of the nightsticks. The blows now mostly fell on her outstretched arms and lower legs, which hurt all the same. But at least her torso and head weren’t beaten too much.
“Let go of me, motherfucking bastards!”
The women in front of the line now also charged and tried to get her back from the hands of the pigs, but it was in vain. As the young woman got dragged away from the line by two officers holding her by the wrists, a third was hitting her kicking legs in an attempt to make her stop resisting.
“Stop kicking, you fucking whore,” shouted the officer at her.
“You’re under arrest, give it up,” shouted one of the other officers at her. She shouted a whole bunch of obscenities back at them, but it was useless. Her kicking legs also hit nobody and when they were near the police van, two more officers jumped on her and forced her on her belly on the pavement. The girl grunted and gasped as the officers held her legs tight and pressed her chest brutally against the cold pavement, while her arms were twisted backwards and her wrists were quickly cuffed. Next they dragged her back to her feet and stuffed her into the van. Six other protesters were also stuffed in there before they drove off to the incarceration centre.
“Don’t tell them your name,” she said to the others, who nodded back at her. Some of them were already beaten quite bad and bleeding from mouth and nose. They expected more beatings to follow, which was something they had talked about beforehand. It was a risk they had all been willing to take. They reasoned that they could not really get convicted if their names weren’t known. Which is also why they had removed their fingerprints with fine sanding paper. And none of them had brought their phones with them. Maybe they’d spend a night in jail before they were released, which was all worth it. Or so they thought.
It turned out to have been idle hope. Justice was swift in these cases and the verdict was given only three hours after the women had been arrested. It was a mass trial for thirty women. Most of them were sentenced with a fine. For the blue haired girl an exception was made. She had to spend time in a rehabilitation centre for behavioural adjustment. One month at least, and then until such adjustment had been achieved. It was a mild punishment, according to the guards leading her away. But the young woman knew she was being sent to hell.