Workers must defend the students of Berlin’s Humboldt University against brutal police violence: Stop the war policy!

Police officers arrest a demonstrator during a protest against genocide in Berlin on Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The brutal police action against peacefully protesting students at Berlin’s Humboldt University on Thursday represents an enormous escalation of violence against anti-war protesters in Germany. When clearing the social science institute, which had been occupied by students on Wednesday to protest against the genocide in Gaza and the university’s complicity, the police behaved like a fascist terror unit. Students and journalists were beaten up by the police, and even lawyers and paramedics were arrested.

When several dozen students began to occupy the institute on Wednesday, the police responded with extreme violence: a peaceful sit-in by supporters in front of the institute’s entrance was brutally broken up and the activists were led away one by one. One person lost consciousness. Access to the building was blocked so that no one could get outside even in the event of a fire.

At the same time, the university administration tolerated the occupation on Thursday until 6 p.m. and scheduled a discussion with the students from 3 p.m. Around 50 students ultimately took part in the discussion with the President of Humboldt University, Julia von Blumenthal, while hundreds more were not allowed into the building. Professor Michael Wildt, one of the leading historians of National Socialism in Germany, also took part in the discussion and expressed his solidarity with the students.

During the talks, Blumenthal made a clear promise that all students would be able to leave the building afterwards without being subjected to police violence or ID checks. None of these promises were kept. During the talks, the police attacked the solidarity demonstration and arrested students. Blumenthal did not want to comment on this.

A short time later, the police entered the building using physical force and beat up students. All students who tried to leave the building voluntarily were surrounded by police officers on the street to take their personal details; 130 people were briefly arrested.

When the university staff left the building, the institute turned into a lawless space where the police used enormous violence against everyone who was still inside. Students were beaten by the police and lawyers and paramedics were arrested.

A reporter for the Berlin newspaper reported that he was thrown to the ground by a police officer and punched twice in the face. He was then handcuffed for several hours. He had abrasions and bruises on his face, stomach and arm. His left hand was still numb the next day.

When asked by the newspaper, the police claimed that the journalist had attacked a police officer and had not identified himself as a member of the press. With these blatant lies, the police condoned the mistreatment of the journalist. Meanwhile, a video of the Berlin newspaper proves that the journalist was not at fault and that he could be clearly heard several times during the police attacks, shouting “I am the press”.

Such scenes, in which aggressive police units attack peacefully protesting students, journalists and even paramedics, are otherwise only known from dictatorships. The fact that Humboldt University – where the Nazis organized book burnings in 1933 – became the scene of this terror shows how far the repression against opponents of the war has progressed.

This was not simply a case of police out of control, but a carefully planned and highly coordinated operation aimed at intimidating and terrorising anyone who calls the genocide in Gaza by its name and protests against the government’s pro-war policies.

Blumenthal herself stated that she had received “instructions from the very top” to end the protest at the HU. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), Science Senator Ina Czyborra (SPD) and Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) were involved in the planning.

The federal government also welcomed the police terror. Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group that he fully supported the police operation. There should be “no approval of criminal acts,” he explained. And Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) wrote on Twitter: “It’s good that the police are now clearing out. Universities are places of conflict, but not lawless areas. Crimes that have been committed must be consistently prosecuted.”

All other parties, including the Left Party, also support the line of the Berlin Senate and the federal government. The Left Party’s science policy spokesman, Tobias Schulze, described Blumenthal’s actions as “de-escalating” and “dialogue-oriented” and accused the protesting students of “glorifying terrorism” and “anti-Semitism.”

The significance of the escalation of police violence, supported by the German government and a united front of all established parties, extends far beyond the walls of Humboldt University. It is about suppressing widespread resistance to the genocide in Gaza and the government’s war policy.

The ruling class has the declared aim of making Germany “fit for war” again, despite its disastrous role in the First and Second World Wars. It is playing a leading role in the NATO war against Russia, which is escalating and raising the threat of nuclear war. In the Middle East, it sees the annihilation and expulsion of the Palestinians as a prerequisite for enforcing its economic and geostrategic interests throughout the region and preparing for a war against Iran.

This madness is incompatible with democratic rights. That is why the government is following the Nazi tradition in domestic policy and establishing a police state. The workers must understand that the attacks on the students are also directed against them. Today critical students are being clubbed to death, tomorrow it will be striking workers and other opponents of the war.

The Socialist Equality Party (SGP) is therefore calling on all workers to come to the aid of the students at Humboldt University. In the USA, 48,000 employees at the University of California have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a strike against police violence, but the union bureaucracy is doing everything it can to prevent a large-scale strike and limit it to a few locations.

Workers must therefore organize themselves in action committees independently of the unions and unite internationally in order to fight back against the attacks on democratic rights and stop the insane war policy. And they need their own party to arm the growing opposition with a clear socialist perspective against capitalism, fascism and war. This is what the Socialist Equality Party is fighting for in the European elections. Register now as an active supporter and take part in our election campaign.

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