A week after French national Amokrane Sabet was killed in Canggu after resisting arrest and stabbing a police officer to death, another disturbing video has surfaced of police shooting the ex-MMA fighter down.
But the difference with this newly posted video from the one that initially went viral after his death is that it’s from a different angle and police’s use of rubber bullets is more apparent.
In this video, posted to Facebook on May 9, Sabet can be seen waving a knife in the air, challenging police to shoot him. Then later, after police fire warning shots into the air, everything happens so quickly. Police are seen scattering as Sabet charges at them. From there, not all is clear, but after much commotion (likely when he was stabbing Sudiarta), he is shot at, presumably with rubber bullets at first, as the shots fail to take him down. Then, police continue to shoot at him, apparently with real bullets, as he lies strewn out on the side of the road.
Police stated last week that they first tried to disarm Sabet with rubber bullets, but only switched to live ammunition when they could not get him under control and feared for the lives of further officers and bystanders.
“Warning shots were fired, but they were ignored. In fact, he (Sabet) managed to catch one of our officers and a struggle occurred. Our officer was then stabbed. There were eight stab wounds, on the neck and heart. Finally, our officer fell. Because he could not be controlled, he was eventually shot by officers,” Bali Police Insp. Gen. Sugeng Priyanto stated, as quoted, by Tribun Bali.
All of Bali was shocked last week on May 2 when news broke of the controversial Canggu expat’s death. Sabet had become infamous in the local community for his volatile and threatening behavior, which many people believed demanded urgent mental health treatment that he unfortunately never got. After learning that his visa had expired and mounting reports from frightened residents, police attempted to arrest him last week, which ended in tragedy.
