What happens when police brutality backfires? (VIDEO)

Viral Video Offers Lesson in Basic Humanity

Badges don’t grant extra rights. That’s why it’s important for citizens in a libertarian republic to guard against the impostures of pretend patriotism, couched in blind submission to authority, even if it wears a badge or a funny hat.

Every human being is endowed with natural rights and a government is instituted to protect those rights. If any government is to exist, its sole claim to legitimacy flows from its dedication to the principles of individual liberty. As such, individuals cannot be harmed if they are not harming anyone else. Even if a person is caught in the act of committing a non-violent crime, they shouldn’t have any more force done to them than is necessary to secure their arrest. The job of the police is not to punish criminals. That is the role of the courts.

WATCH: 10 rules for dealing with police

In the following video, a crowd of footballers watch police detain an individual who had trespassed onto the playing field. But the police don’t just tackle the mischief-maker. They secure him and then one officer begins jamming his billy club into the prisoners ribs in front of the crowd. But the citizens don’t tolerate it. They rush headlong into the officers, tackling them and beating them off. Despite evidence that people in a crowd are less likely to intervene to help someone, these people defy that instinct and do swift justice to the public servants who are supposed to protect their citizens. It’s a very good lesson for some people with authority to learn. After all, people should not fear their governments. Governments should fear their people.

If this had been in America, would the crowd had behaved the same way? Leave your thoughts below.