Human rights
Amnesty: Suppression of protests in Germany too
Police officers carry a participant off the street during a protest march by the climate protection group “Last Generation”. photo
© Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa
“Protect the Protest”: Under this motto, Amnesty International shows on an online world map how states are restricting demonstrations. Climate protests in particular are increasingly being subjected to repression.
Amnesty International sees freedom of assembly as Germany restricted by blanket bans on gatherings, preventive detention and violent police tactics. An online world map published today by the human rights organization shows how states are taking action against demonstrators. There has been an increase in state repression worldwide, Amnesty noted. Germany is also listed in the “Protest Map”.
“In Germany, protests are sometimes perceived by state authorities as a threat to public safety and order and are therefore restricted,” reported Paula Zimmermann, an expert on freedom of expression and assembly at Amnesty International in Germany. The digital map also lists repressive laws and excessive police violence as restrictions on freedom of assembly in this country.
Preventative detention as a deterrent
According to Amnesty, climate activists in particular are exposed to increasing repression. The Bavarian police, for example, have taken dozens of people into preventive detention for up to 30 days since October 2022, most recently in connection with the International Motor Show (IAA). Preventive detention is used for deterrence purposes instead of, as originally intended, to prevent serious violent crimes, commented Zimmermann.
The “Protest Map” is part of the “Protect the Protest” campaign, which has been running since July 2022. Amnesty examined 156 countries. According to the human rights organization, state authorities in at least 86 countries used unlawful violence against peaceful demonstrators in 2022. Demonstrators were arbitrarily detained in 79 countries. Amnesty also documented unlawful killings during protests since 2022, for example of a total of 49 people in Peru and several hundred in Iran.