---
title: "The Other Epidemic: An account of police and army violence in the Covid-19 pandemic"
description: "As police and soldier violence became an ugly by-product of the public health emergency lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak, people used their phone cameras as a form of human rights documentation. This is the story of how the phone became the watchdog as human rights bodies failed to deal with the surge of security violence that began in March and continues today. (Click on the image to read the special feature)"
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "The Jackboot"
author: "Chanel Retief, Greg Nicolson and Ferial Haffajee"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/chanelretiefgregnicolsonandferialhaffajee/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-05-22-the-other-epidemic-an-account-of-police-and-army-violence-in-the-covid-19-pandemic/"
published: "2020-05-22T22:09:30"
updated: "2020-05-22T22:09:53"
lang: "en-ZA"
---

# The Other Epidemic: An account of police and army violence in the Covid-19 pandemic

> As police and soldier violence became an ugly by-product of the public health emergency lockdown during the Covid-19 outbreak, people used their phone cameras as a form of human rights documentation. This is the story of how the phone became the watchdog as human rights bodies failed to deal with the surge of security violence that began in March and continues today. (Click on the image to read the special feature)

By Chanel Retief, Greg Nicolson and Ferial Haffajee · Published 23 May 2020, 00:09 SAST · Updated 23 May 2020, 00:09 SAST

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