Germany uses police raids to intimidate activists opposed to Gaza war

Since October 7 last year, the German state has intensified crackdown on pro-Palestinian solidarity in the country, unleashing police, media outlets and rabid politicians.

One of the vicious tactics employed by the German police is to show up at people’s homes and, in some cases, issue letters telling them demonstrations condemning the Gaza war are a “danger to public peace and safety”.

In light of the police’s heavy handedness, people who are conscious of the death toll the war in Gaza has taken feel stifled even in exercising their right to protest – a scenario that mirrors autocracies the US and its European allies have always opposed on the grounds of maintaining the so-called “rules based order”, where free speech can thrive and causes of justice are championed.

Salah Said, German-Palestinian activist based in Berlin, is one among those who have received the police at their doorsteps. The first two times – between December 2023 and February 2024– they came to warn him, implying that he is a veiled threat to public and national security. On the third occasion, Said tells TRT World that his home was raided on March 22 at 6 am and his phone and devices confiscated.

“Eight officers of the German Criminal Investigation Police came to my home with a search warrant,” Said says, “I am still in shock and am trying to comprehend what has happened. They invaded my personal space, searched through my belongings, and confiscated personal items”.

When Said sought explanation from the police as to why he was being treated unfairly, the police responded saying they were simply “doing their job” and that they were ordered to do so from “above.”

“They treated me as if I was a criminal.They knew I had done nothing illegal,” he says.

“This process involves the German authorities singling out individuals they deem to be a ‘risk or threat’ to public safety,” he adds, expressing disappointment at the German state which projects itself as the protector of free speech and democracy.

In the days leading up to the Palestine Congress, which was due in Berlin between April 12 and 14, the German police went on the prowl, looking for anti-war protesters in every neighbourhood. The Congress was aimed at debating Germany’s military support to Israel amid the genocide that is unfolding in Gaza since October 7.

After the Palestine Congress, the police pressure became harsher and harsher, he tells TRT World.

Amid the heightened police suppression, the Congress gathering was disrupted. The only speaker who could finish her speech via livestream was Hebh Jamal, a student activist, who later wrote on X that the next speaker Salman Abu Sitta could only speak for one minute as the electricity was cut off at the venue, causing commotion.

The attendees were smeared with derogatory labels such as “Israel-haters” and “anti-semites”. Hours before the congress was to begin on April 12, guest speaker Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, who played a heroic role in saving dozens of Palestinian lives while volunteering at a Gaza hospital amidst Israel’s relentless bombings, was denied entry into Germany.

The police intervention with the new dimension of interfering with people’s private spaces has led to the climate of fear in the country.

Home visits with guns

During the first police visit in late December last year, Said says he was told that the law-enforcement authorities had profiled him for his pro-Palestine solidarity work and social media posts.

Prior to this, Said was detained by the police for attending a pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin’s Kurfürsten Damm neighbourhood. The police took his fingerprints and photos.

Said grew up in Berlin. A first generation Palestinian, he studied political science and sociology at Johannes von Gutenberg University in Mainz.

His mother’s family is from Haifa while his father’s is from Al Bassa. Both his grandparents fled after the Nakba in 1948, and moved to Lebanon. Following the civil war in Lebanon, they came to Germany where Said was born.

“Our whole life story is about being refugees, fleeing wars and not really having any place to go to feel safe, where we could build our lives,” he says.

Community engagement

He has received several awards for his humanitarian work.

In 2012, he was awarded the democracy prize by Waltraud-Netzer-Jugendpreis der Stiftung "Gegen Vergessen - Für Demokratie" for his non-profit organisations World Citizen.

In the same year he was a speaker at TEDx Youth Germany to talk about diversity and inclusion.

Two years later, he was again awarded for his community engagement by Robert-Bosch Foundation and chosen to be part of their social responsibility network “the responsibles.”

The year was so supportive for him as he has been invited to the democracy fest of former German president Joachim Gauck for his community work.

Now, he is still working for his community as being vocal about Palestine, but differently the whole system has turned on him.

“The problem is that when I say free Palestine they hear the eradication of Israel,” he says.

Negative media coverage

The police profiling and harassment has made him anxious– he fears his career and life in Germany is under threat.

Said and many others like him facing similar ordeal are being consistently targeted by the negative media coverage, which has polarised the German society on the question of the Gaza war. Many a time, it was because of the belligerent media that led to violence on the streets of Berlin.

On April 16, one of Germany’s popular media channels ZDF ran an episode named “Trauer, Wut & Hass: Wie Aktivisten Deutschland zur Rechenschaft ziehen wollen” (Grief, anger and hatred: How activists want to hold Germany accountable).

The episode unabashedly targeted pro-Palestinian voices, including Said, whom the show anchor described as “terrorist sympathiser”.

Said also tells TRT World that he was attacked on the street twice – first when he attended an anti-AfD demonstration and second at a local supermarket, where two men approached him, pointing fingers at Said’s keffiyeh and shouting, “you terrorist, you don’t belong to Germany.”

“It is the current government of the green, liberal and socialist party that amplifies the racism against people in solidarity with Palestine,” he says.

“All German political parties stand with Israel. That's why we have no choice but to take to the streets in protest.”