Wednesday 1, November
Video shows plainclothes police officer smear climate activists with paint
A video has been circulating online apparently showing a plainclothes police officer smearing paint onto climate activists’ faces.
On Tuesday, 60-70 protesters from the Letzte Generation group organised a protest to daub orange paint onto a wall of the Chancellery office in Berlin’s government district. Before long, a number of police officers (some in uniform, some in civilian clothes) intervened, reportedly using physical force against the activists.
Auch wenn wir angemalt werden, wehren wir uns nicht.
— Letzte Generation (@AufstandLastGen) October 31, 2023
Ist das hier zu sehene Vorgehen angemessen, @polizeiberlin?pic.twitter.com/fCZbqGQIGo
Video footage taken at the scene shows a plainclothes male officer violently pulling two female protesters to the ground, holding them there and then grabbing a paintbrush from one of the protesters, which he uses to smear orange paint onto their faces. The man handcuffed the two activists, while police officers looked on.
Things only seem to get shadier from there. The Berlin police now say they can’t confirm whether the man in the video was a police officer at all. A spokesperson for the Berlin police announced that they are investigating the matter, saying: “If this is a police officer from the Berlin police, criminal measures will be examined and, if necessary, initiated”. But beyond that, no information has been provided, and the question of why — if the man was in fact not a police officer — officers at the scene did not intervene, remains unanswered.
