Dozens of injuries and 50 arrests reported as riot police blocks Palestine solidarity march

~ Josie Ó Súileabháin ~

Thousands of Palestine solidarity activists gathered in Neukölln, Berlin yesterday (May 15th) to mark Nakba Day and protest Israel’s continuing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Media reported dozens of injuries and over 50 arrests at the demonstration. The Nakba or “catastrophe” refers to the displacement of about 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled from or fled their homes in the 1948 war that surrounded the establishment of the State of Israel.

The demonstration was due to march on the streets but this was blocked by a wall of riot police and water canon tanks, turning it into a static rally. Speakers took to the small stage on the back of a truck that was meant to lead the demonstration and different people came up and spoke in different languages, including German, English, and French. Once as speech was being made in Arabic, however, a group of German riot police moved towards the stage. The police were blocked from getting to the stage by protesters, and the speaker was able to jump into the crowd.

It was the beginning of what was to come. Usually with ‘kettling’ or ‘static rallies’ come the frustration, fear and rage as the police start marching into the middle of the protest, choosing one random person—violently arresting them and dragging them out of the crowd. In an attempt to stop this from happening were a line of activists stopping the police from reaching the main protest.

As a woman is dragged out of the crowd, she is followed by an emergency medical support team. They attempt to follow her to provide medical attention but one paramedic is violently pushed back by a riot police officer, joined by several more to prevent them from reaching the injured protester in custody.

As the crowd of people move to try to stop one police kidnapping, a group of riot police move in another direction and close the circle. A journalist is arrested wearing a vest marked ‘press’ and holding a film camera. The arrested are taken into the guarded wooded area and behind police vans. A group of young men are lined up against the wall, handcuffed.

“What is that?” a legal observer asks me. “A water cannon” I reply, “watch out for your eye.”

Most of the arrests are done by two police officers; one holds the person and the other pulls one of their arms at an impossible stress position. For some this triggered a response of screaming which would allow the use of more force. Several other police officers kept people back, but just enough to show them the violence. This intimidation has defined state repression of protests in Berlin for the last year and half.

While genocidal Israeli politicians have openly called for a second Nakba in Gaza, this incitement is not a concern of the German government, Instead, it charges Palestinian solidarity demonstrators with ‘volksverhetzung’ or ‘incitement of ethnic hatred’ while continuing to support the Israeli government through arms exports.

Germany’s criminalisation of Palestinian solidarity is a widespread, systematic approach of domestic silencing that is deeply embedded in the cultural normality of racism within society. The Index of Repression—a database recently released to the public by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC)— documents 766 instances of state repression in Germany since October 2023. With the absence of the German media, the only coverage is from those present who feel deeply enough about the issue, and from the protesters themselves who regularly document police violence towards them.

The organisers of the demonstration wrote: “From the banning, restrictions and police brutality on the streets, to legal persecution of any active voice for Palestine, to taking away people’s jobs or right to political activity, to the violence of the ongoing deportation policy against Palestinians from Gaza and activists… now it is time to show Germany that being on the wrong side of history comes at a cost”.