Austrian police accused of racism

The human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has accused the Austrian police of brutality and racism -- and criticised the authorities for doing little to stop it.

In a report presented in Vienna, Amnesty quoted eye-witness accounts of detainees -- most of them non-white -- who were kicked, punched, kneed, beaten with truncheons and sprayed with pepper gas.

The report said the Austrian authorities had been slow in carrying out investigations.

The head of the Austrian branch of Amnesty Heinz Patzelt said Austria had failed by a long way to meet the standards of the European human rights convention.

Most of the report was compiled before the far right Freedom Party joined a new coalition government in February.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service