A new visual investigation has cast serious doubt on police claims that a Berlin officer was violently assaulted during a pro-Palestinian protest in May, raising concerns about misinformation, media accountability, and the potential erosion of civil liberties.
The Berlin-based research group Forensis released findings Friday contradicting the police narrative surrounding an incident at the “Nakba77” demonstration on May 15, which commemorated the displacement of Palestinians in 1948. Police had previously stated that an officer, identified as BE-24111, was dragged into a crowd, attacked by demonstrators, and seriously injured.
According to police, who made over 50 arrests, approximately 1,100 people took part in the demonstration in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg in remembrance of the Nakba.
However, video footage analysed by Forensis shows the officer entered the crowd voluntarily alongside other officers while attempting to apprehend a protester. The officer appeared to fall to the ground during the arrest intentionally and can be seen punching demonstrators multiple times in the head and face. The footage shows no evidence of the officer being attacked, trampled, or kicked, as police had claimed.
According to Forensis, the officer appeared to injure his right hand during the altercation — likely from repeatedly punching protesters — and was later seen visibly distressed, cradling his arm and stumbling away from the scene.
Berlin Police statements describing the event as a “deliberate assault” were widely circulated in the media and echoed by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt in the Bundestag, who used the incident to call for enhanced police powers. Police unions also appeared on television, with one spokesperson describing the protesters as “a gang of murderers.”
Forensis criticised the uncritical amplification of police accounts, saying the false narrative had fueled political calls to restrict the right to protest.
“Our investigation provides important evidence of a police officer using disproportionate and unjustified force,” a Forensis spokesperson said. “That these police accounts were reported without scrutiny highlights a desperate shortage of critical media coverage.”
Legal experts and activists echoed these concerns. Alexander Gorski of the European Legal Support Center said the incident reflected a broader pattern of repression against Palestine solidarity movements in Germany.
A representative from the activist group Palestinians and Allies called the incident “a fabrication of victimhood” used to justify state violence. “This follows a clear pattern: demonstrators are smeared as violent extremists to shift public opinion and legitimize further crackdowns,” they said.
The protest had been part of a wider series of demonstrations across Germany and Europe marking the 77th anniversary of the Nakba. The Berlin police declined to comment on the Forensis findings.
Forensis was founded in 2021 and is affiliated with the London-based research agency Forensic Architecture.
The demonstrations on Nakba Day 2025 took place against the backdrop of more than 18 months of escalating police violence against expressions of solidarity with Palestine in response to Israel’s ongoing genocidal military campaign in Gaza.
A recent letter from the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe to the German govenment ‘raises concerns about restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly of persons protesting in the context of the conflict in Gaza’.
