22nd October 2018

MAN SAYS HE WAS WRONGLY ARRESTED

A Mondercange man has said he was mistreated by police after being picked up in a major raid against drug dealers in Esch sur Alzette last week.  Karim Kone says he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when the raid took place.  The 44 year old was having a coffee with a friend in a bar in the Avenue de la Gare when police swooped.  He says he was thrown to the floor by a masked officer, and then held down and handcuffed.  Police then placed a spit hood on him.  Both this and the cable tie on his wrists were causing him pain, but police refused to act.  The father of four, who has lived her for 12 years was released finally some 7 hours later, without being asked for anything other than his ID papers.  Karim, who comes originally from Mali, said none of this was ideal preparation for his first day in a new job last Wednesday.  But he has received no apology from the police for what he says was a clear case of mistaken identity.

 TWO MUGGINGS – ONE ARREST

Police have arrested a man in connection with a mugging on Friday evening in the Place du Theatre in the capital.  The victim handed over all his valuables to a man and woman who accosted him and threatened him with violence.  A suspect was then arrested on Saturday morning near the station.  And police are trying to trace two men who tried to mug a man in Kokelscheuer at three o’clock on Saturday morning.  The victim fought back, but the attackers managed to remove his jacket and drove off with it in a Luxembourg registered car.

 ECONOMY NOT BOOMING QUITE AS MUCH AS THOUGHT

The economy last year did not grow as fast as STATEC originally thought. The national statistics office has now revised down its 2017 growth figure to 1.5%, having initially thought it had grown by 2.3%.  It is not unusual for growth figures to be revised once all the data components have been deifintively collated, but this is all the same quite a difference.  Statec has also revised down its estimates for growth in the first two quarters of this year.  Instead of numbers around 5%, it sees annual growth more like 3%