Footage shows brutal arrest at pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin
Demonstrators carry banners before the police’s intervention
Videos circulated on social media show police brutally detaining a protester at a demonstration in support of Gaza in the German capital.
The clip, posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad, shows police officers forcefully pulling a man from a crowd in Alexanderplatz, central Berlin, and marching him from the area with an officer’s arm around his neck.
The officer then covers the detained man’s mouth and nose with his hand, before covering his eyes, while another officer grabs his arm. Other officers shove aside bystanders as they pass.
The incident is not an anomaly. Since the start of the war on Gaza, German officers have regularly detained and roughed up activists. Berlin has also shut down several events critical of Israel and banned some Palestinian rights advocates from entering the country.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMAxHyttYqd
Dozens arrested in London protest in support of Palestine Action: NGO
We are receiving updates on the police intervention into the protests in the British capital.
Police have arrested dozens of protesters at a second successive demonstration. The protests come a week after the UK government banned the activist group under its “anti-terror” laws.
Campaign group Defend Our Juries, which had announced it would hold rallies Saturday in several UK cities “to defy” the ban, said police in the UK capital had arrested “more than 40 people” and criticised the response.
“The Metropolitan Police were out in force again today, arresting more than 40 people in Parliament Square for holding signs opposed to genocide and supporting Palestine Action,” a spokesperson told the AFP news agency.
“Who do the police think they are serving in this?” the spokesperson added, calling the ban “Orwellian”.
Footage showed police moving in on a small group of protesters displaying signs supporting Palestine Action who had gathered at the steps of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square.
Police arrest a protester at the demonstration in support of Palestine Action at Parliament Square. Police had warned earlier that showing support for the group was a criminal offense
London’s Metropolitan Police say they have detained 42 people at a demonstration in support of the banned group Palestine Action in the British capital.
Police said in a post on social media platform X that officers had arrested 41 people for showing support for a proscribed organisation, and that another person had been arrested for assault.
The post said that police had cleared the area of protesters. Last week’s demonstration resulted in 29 arrests.
We are responding to a protest in support of Palestine Action.
Officers are in the process of making arrests. We will issue any updates on this thread.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) July 12, 2025
UK MPs urge recognition of Palestine
Nearly 60 Members of the UK Parliament from the Labour Party have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, criticising the Israeli government’s plan to forcibly transfer all Palestinians in Gaza to a concentration camp in Rafah in the south.
The MPs urged the UK to immediately recognise a Palestinian state, warning that failure to do so would undermine its support for a two-state solution. They also called for continued backing of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, to deliver aid and support to Palestinians.
