GENEVA - UN experts* today urged Germany to stop criminalising, punishing, and suppressing legitimate Palestinian solidarity activism.
"We are alarmed by the persistent pattern of police violence and apparent suppression of Palestine solidarity activism by Germany," the experts said.
They urged Germany to uphold its human rights obligations and to respect and facilitate the right to peaceful assembly for everyone without discrimination. "Under the right to peaceful assembly, non-violent protests are protected and must not be punished," the experts said. "Political protests and those expressing dissent must not be subject to undue restrictions based on content."
The experts noted that, since October 2023, Germany has escalated and expanded restrictions with regard to Palestinian solidarity activism and protests even though actions have been overall peaceful and used to express legitimate demands, such as calling for halting arms exports to Israel, ending the genocide and the Israeli illegal occupation, ensuring humanitarian aid access to Gaza, the recognition of the State of Palestine, and accountability for those who have committed atrocity crimes.
During the past months, Palestine solidarity protesters in Berlin have been reportedly subjected to police violence, leaving some injured and requiring medical care. Dozens were reportedly arrested, some for simply chanting "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free". This slogan is widely used by the global Palestine solidarity movement yet has been treated by German authorities as expressing support for Hamas, the experts noted. While some courts upheld fines or bans deeming the slogan as "condoning violence", other courts recognised it as protected under freedom of expression. Moreover, the experts expressed concern that, during protests marking the two-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas-led attack and the subsequent genocide in Gaza, arbitrary arrests, detentions, and police violence were reported, including officers punching non-violent activists in the face; while the police in Berlin reportedly imposed a last-minute ban on protests without evidence-based justification.
"We have regularly raised with the German Government concerns related to undue restrictions on Palestinian solidarity movements, including through reportedly unjustified bans and defunding of associations; restrictions on peaceful assemblies, events and participants; excessive use of police force and arbitrary detentions, including of minors; expansive criminalisation of human rights defenders and protected expressions connected to defending Palestinian identity and rights; and forced deportations," they said.
The experts noted that Germany often invokes broad justifications on grounds of security, public safety, prevention of antisemitism, or banning support for terrorist organisations.
They stressed that the use of foreign policy-related justifications and misuse of immigration law to reject citizenship or deport activists are alarming. "These are contrary to international standards and have deep chilling effect on the protection of democratic freedoms," they said.
"Germany must support, not suppress, actions aiming to stop atrocity crimes and genocide," the experts said. "No circumstances can justify unnecessary and excessive police violence or unjust criminalisation for exercising fundamental freedoms."
The experts have been in contact with the Government of Germany regarding their concerns.
