Berlin police condemned after officer filmed punching Irish national

Ireland’s Foreign Office has condemned the behaviour of police in Berlin after an officer was filmed punching an Irish national in the face during a pro-Palestine demonstration.

Berlin police officer filmed punching protester

Politicians in Ireland have called German police conduct “completely outside the bounds of democratic practice” after a Berlin officer was filmed punching an Irish national in the face.

A video shared widely on social media shows 25-year-old Kitty O’Brien at a Berlin demonstration against Israeli airstrikes on Palestine that killed five journalists. A police officer pushes O’Brien multiple times, to which they appear to respond, “genocide supporter” and “you are acting like a f**cking Nazi”. 

The officer keeps pushing and eventually punches O’Brien in the face. When O’Brien’s nose starts bleeding, they touch their face, show officers the blood, and say “there is blood on your hands”, before police twist their arm and take them from the crowd.

Around 100 people attended the unauthorised demonstration in Berlin-Mitte, where police temporarily detained 94 people, and police initiated 96 criminal investigations against demonstrators.

According to a report from Deutsche Welle, O’Brien’s arm was broken at the demonstration, and they remain in hospital. A post on Instagram suggests that O’Brien, who works as a costume designer, is still not able to use one of their hands since the incident.

Video credit: Guardian News / YouTube.com

German police often criticised for conduct at pro-Palestine demonstrations

In response to the incident, Ireland’s Foreign Office and ambassador to Germany have expressed concern about German police behaviour at pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, Irish Social Democrats Councillor Catherine Stocker, who is also O’Brien’s aunt, said, "What you have here is a bunch of mostly young Irish people standing up for international law and standing up for the people of Gaza and Palestine, which has effectively been made illegal to do in Berlin at this stage."

“They had to take it seriously. It was two very violent assaults … It’s shocking,” added Chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign Zoë Lawlor. “The German police are just horrendous when it comes to Palestine activism.”

Police in Berlin have come under fire countless times for violent behaviour, threatening to deport protestors and banning certain languages and phrases at pro-Palestine demonstrations. Large, peaceful pro-Palestine demonstrations, including one attended by between 15.000 and 40.000 people in Berlin on June 21, 2025, also receive little coverage in the German-language media.

In June 2025, the EU Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe wrote to German Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt (CDU), asking German authorities to uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the context of the conflict in Gaza.

While the German Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on the incident involving O’Brien, Berlin police said they have now opened an investigation into their own officer's conduct.