[imagesource: YouTube / News24]

We live in a country where women must constantly fear for their safety.

When the people entrusted with protecting them contribute towards that fear, there really is nowhere to turn.

CCTV footage, captured on the night of September 25 in Leiden, Delft, has led to four officers being arrested for common and grievous assault.

According to News24, it’s alleged that the officers attacked the group of women after they “apparently turned down their advances”:

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) spokesperson Grace Langa said the officers, who are members of the National Intervention Unit based in Pretoria, had driven past a group of friends, who they greeted.

One had apparently asked the women if they wanted to take a ride with them and after the friends declined and questioned why they had stopped, the officers got out of the white unmarked vehicle.

Footage shows four women running, and then a uniformed officer grabs one of them as she cowers before pulling free.

Langa said the incident took place ahead of the curfew, adding that the women were simply “having their own time there as friends”.

In other words, they weren’t doing anything wrong. They simply declined to “take a ride” with the officers.

One of the women was hit by a rubber bullet, with Langa saying “it was not a deep wound” and she was doing “okay”.

Take a look for yourself:

How exactly was the use of a rubber bullet necessary here?

The four officers appeared yesterday in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court, charged with assault and assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

All four have been released with a warning, and the next court date is set for February 16 next year.

[source:news24]