The “last generation” has been tackling the capital for days. A special incident stirs up spirits – now the police are investigating colleagues.
The Berlin police are checking a video circulating on the Internet for possible misconduct by officials at a climate protest by the group “Last Generation”. “The entire content of the video is checked for all sorts of questions,” said a police spokeswoman on Saturday when asked. The video is known and available.
In a tweet, the police spoke of a “coercive measure by a colleague” that can be seen on it. Accordingly, it comes from a mission on Thursday. The spokeswoman did not name the exact location. Climate activists protested in various places in Berlin on Thursday.
“Last Generation”: Police officer makes announcement and then accesses
The video shows a police officer asking a climate activist sitting on the street to get off the road. “Then I’m going to ask you to go over there immediately. Otherwise I’ll hurt you,” the policeman says clearly in the video.
The activist replies, “I’m sitting here peacefully and you just want to carry me away.” The policeman then counts down from three and then lifts the activist off the street together with a colleague. The video shows him pulling his neck and chin up. After a cut you can see how the two police officers try to get the young man off the street. They apply grips, as a result of which the activist screams loudly.
Criminologist criticizes officials: unlawful police violence
The video was posted and shared on Twitter several times. The “Last Generation” also shared it, but initially without comment. In the past few weeks, the group has repeatedly pointed out and criticized what they consider to be harsh actions by the police.
In an interview with “MDR investigativ”, legal scholar and criminologist Tobias Singelnstein sees illegal police violence on the video: “The police always have to check what the mildest means are to achieve their goal.” Read more about his criticism of the mission here.