Amnesty calls for probe into German police violence against pro-Palestine supporters

Amnesty International has called for “independent investigations” after a video circulated on social media showing police in Berlin beating pro-Palestine protesters on Saturday.

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The organisation’s office in Germany said in a post on X yesterday: “We are concerned by videos & reports of excessive use of force by police against protestors at a Palestine solidarity demonstration in Berlin on Saturday.”

We are concerned by videos & reports of excessive use of force by police against protestors at a Palestine solidarity demonstration in Berlin on Saturday.

We demand independent investigations into the police officers involved.#Protecttheprotest https://t.co/fSoB6YcZY9

— Amnesty EU (@AmnestyEU) August 19, 2024

“We demand independent investigations into the police officers involved,” it added.

Posts on social media showed German police using violence against those who participated in the demonstration on Saturday, with some of the victims said to be minors.

The scenes show the police arresting a young man, throwing him to the ground and beating him. While other footage shows a police officer knocking a lady to the ground as she was walking away with her back to the officer. They went on to arrest her.

Germany had tried to ban pro-Palestine marches but the decision was criticised as breaching the democratic right to freedom of assembly. However such protests have regularly been met with police brutality.

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