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Transwoman allegedly beaten-up by police in Australia-N.S.W.
Reported in the Gay Star News
03 August 2012 | By Anna Leach
New South Wales police have launched an internal investigation after allegations that four officers assaulted a transgender woman in her apartment in April.
Indi Edwards, 46, who identifies as a transwoman and intersex, said the incident happened after she called anonymous and confidential counselling line Lifeline.
‘I called Lifeline after being rejected by my family when I told them about my surgery,’ Edwards, who plans to have a gender realignment operation, said to Alternative Media Group of Australia.
Edwards said that soon after she got off the phone with Lifeline, there was a loud banging at her front door. She said four police officers charged into her apartment when she answered the door. When she insisted they leave, she was roughly thrown onto her bed, held down and handcuffed, then dragged out of her apartment and thrown into a police van.
‘It was absolutely humiliating because I was half naked and the whole street could see,’ Edwards said. ‘I was freezing cold, dragged through the rain with hardly any clothes on.’
The police took her to Concord Hospital in Sydney, where a mental health team assessed that she posed no threat to herself or others.
Edwards said the police referred to her as ‘he’ apart from when in the presence of medical professionals. ‘They were trying to rile me up,’ she said.
Edwards complained to the police and they said they would launch an investigation, ‘but it seems now they’ve swept the whole thing under the carpet,’ said Edwards.
A New South Wales Police spokesperson said the matter was being investigated.
Gay Star News contacted Lifeline for a comment but the media office did not respond to a request for comment…….
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/tranwoman-allegedly-beaten-police-australia030812
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