What is the right way for the police to deal with protesters of the "last generation"? A policeman talks about proportionality. © Imago/Andreas Friedrichs
The video went viral: two police officers put pain grips against a climate activist. "That wasn't okay," a colleague told IPPEN anonymously. MEDIA.
Frankfurt/Berlin – "Three, two, one, go," the policeman counts down. Then he grabs it and makes good what he threatened a climate activist of the "last generation" before. He inflicts pain on him. "I'm sitting here peacefully," the young man says before the officer grabs him by the jaw and pulls him up. After that, the activist collapses and lies down on the ground again.
Police officers use pain grip against climate activist: Video sparks debate on police violence
This scene comes from a video published by "MDR Investigativ" at the end of April. And it doesn't stop with the jaw grip. Another officer rushes in and grabs the activist's right arm. His colleague tugs at the legs of the protester, who is lying on the ground at this time.
"Just let me sit," says the activist, then bursts into screams of pain. The policeman twists his arm and wrist. A so-called pain grip.
The images have sparked a debate about assault in office. Are police officers allowed to take such radical action? From the point of view of the "last generation", of course not. The group went to court after the incident. And had to accept defeat in the first instance. The Administrative Court of Berlin dismissed the complaint in summary proceedings. The question of whether the official acted lawfully must be heard in a main procedure. The police union defended the action to the MDR. Pain grips would be part of the police's repertoire. In addition, the officials were very transparent.
Pain grips against "Last Generation" exaggerated? Policeman would have acted differently than his colleagues
For others, the matter is clear. "That wasn't okay, that was exaggerated," says a police officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, to fr.de of IPPEN. MEDIA. He would have acted differently in the situation that can be seen in the video.
Grabbing the activist by the jaw is incomprehensible to him. And when he sees the following pain grips in the video, even the policeman grimaces. "These are nerve pressure points that cause pain. The user can control how big they are. It's hard to judge from the video how strong he scored the points."
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Police officers are allowed to use direct coercion. But they need a reason for that. If a demonstrator sits on the street and refuses to comply with the officers' requests, this is considered "passive resistance". Emergency services are allowed to take action against this. However, they are obliged to always use the "mildest remedy".
"Always look at videos critically": Police officer warns against short clips on social media
"They could have simply lifted this activist painlessly under the armpits and carried him off the street," says the colleague. Yes, sometimes you have to force demonstrators to leave the street themselves, but only if they are too heavy to carry it. Or, the road must be cleared as quickly as possible, for example for a rescue operation.
However, it also happens again and again that activists shout loudly in order to draw media attention to alleged misconduct by the officials. "You always have to take a critical look at videos like this."
After criticism of "disproportionate force" in another case, the police stressed in a statement to IPPEN. MEDIA that, in principle, no techniques are used that have as their goal only the creation of pain.