Kitty O’Brien, the Irish protester assaulted by Berlin police during a pro-Palestine demonstration, has said the incident was indicative of the treatment activists face in the city.
In a video posted on Instagram on Thursday, the 25-year-old Dubliner said: “The video of me being beaten went viral because I’m white, but the violence I experienced is just a drop in the ocean compared to what my Palestinian, Arab and other racialised comrades have endured at the hands of the German state police over the past two years.”
Video footage captured O’Brien twice being punched in the face on the front line of a solidarity demonstration over Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza.
Opposition politicians and campaigners in Berlin have urged the Irish Government to increase pressure on the city’s government over their police’s approach to pro-Palestine demonstrators.
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“If what happened to me outraged you, that same energy needs to be directed at every act of violence carried out by the Berlin police, because they are relentless,” O’Brien said. “I’m not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that I don’t even know a single person in the movement who hasn’t been physically assaulted in some way by the cops. Punched, choked, shoved, slapped, kicked – I am at a loss for words to describe how bad the police abuse situation here is.”
While highlighting police brutality in Berlin, O’Brien is critical of the German state for blocking efforts by other EU members, including Ireland, to sanction Israel. In recent weeks, several German cities have offered to take in sick and traumatised children from Gaza, but O’Brien claimed the federal government has failed to co-operate with them.
“It is the mark of a truly sick society when the state can deny help to severely ill children and face little opposition from the public,” O’Brien said.
“This is what we were protesting on Thursday, but we’ve been protesting on these streets for two years and what we need every person outside the movement in Berlin to understand is this: the violence that you saw in that video is the rule of the Berlin police, not the exception.
“This isn’t even the first black eye the Berlin police have given me and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last.”
O’Brien has encouraged people to focus on the aid-carrying flotilla attempting to provide food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
“Keep escalating pressure on your government and the international community to take real action but remember that it is up to us to look after each other and fight for each other.”
A spokesman for Berlin’s police force denied accusations raised by the Irish Bloc demonstrators and other groups of excessive force by city police at demonstrations related to the Gaza conflict.
Police spokesman Florian Nath said that “multiple complaints” had been filed against the police officer seen in the video punching O’Brien.
The police officer in question remains on duty but the case has been handed over for investigation to another department under the authority of Berlin’s public prosecutor.
According to the spokesman, the officer has received multiple death threats since last week’s incident.
He described as “fabricated” a widespread claim that police have been given carte blanche by Berlin’s city state government and its governing mayor, Kai Wegener, to use violence and other forms of intimidation against demonstrators.
“The Berlin police is bound by the rule of law, so the governing mayor has no direct right of intervention over the Berlin police,” said Mr Nath.
The response of officers at demonstrators was, he added, covered by “the law on the use of direct force in the state of Berlin”.
“These are subject to the constitutional requirements of moderation ... and every police measure must always be based on the principle of proportionality,” he added.
Police statistics since the start of the Gaza conflict to August 5th show 10,605 related offences at demonstrations in Berlin. In total Berlin police have identified 5,397 suspects in direct connection with these offences.
