Thousands joined the Revolutionary 8th of March Demonstration “Until Total Liberation” in Berlin-Kreuzberg at the International Day of Feminist Struggle.
From the beginning on the cops were very aggressive and it became clear that they had already planned to dissolve this demonstration by any means necessary in Kreuzberg to stop it going the announced route until Neukölln. The goal of the rulers and their street thugs – the police – was clear: to produce images of arrested and beaten people to avoid images of a successful intersectional and revolutionary demo at the International Feminist Day of Struggle, which is joined by Thousands.
But multiple brutal attacks by the “ready to fight” overdosed cops, about 29 arrests with some driven away to cop stations, many injured people, and so on… did not stop the people to stand the ground in solidarity and united until the end!
“For us, it is clear: as long as people decide to continue resisting in the streets, we will not dissolve our demonstration.” (Clarification Statement of Alliance of Internationalist Feminists)
Photos and videos of the demo and the resistance you can find at the Instagram account of Alliance of Internationalist Feminists.
_______________
CLARIFICATION STATEMENT
regarding state repression on 8th of March demonstration of Alliance of Internationalist Feminists
13.03.2025
On March 8th, we took to the streets with a large demonstration under the Slogan “Until total liberation.” We marched to remember our siblings who have resisted and fought throughout history and to carry on this unfinished fight: the fight for a world rooted in justice and collective self-determination. After this demonstration, Videos of the police violence we experienced went viral, and we received many messages—including numerous expressions of solidarity.
We want to clarify a few points:
The police violence (including sexualized violence) we experienced on March 8th was neither surprising nor new to us, nor does it represent an exceptional escalation.
Even during the last two March 8th demonstrations of the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists, as well as the last two November 25th demonstrations, we were attacked just as brutally.
Not only in demos by the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists but in all actions, demonstrations, rallies and other forms of protests, in regards to the Palestine solidarity movement, we have been brutalized by the state and their repression machinery for more than 17 months now.
We can all clearly recall the Images from 05.04.2024 at the Central Train Station in Berlin. After attacking a spontaneous peaceful sit-in protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Germanys complicity, where a cop pushed a woman wearing hijab to the ground, threw himself over her, pressed his knee between her legs and choked her. Where was the outrage then?
For more information, you can read all the Statements based on ADU’s (Arrest Documentation Unit) observations öfter demonstrations, published since last summer. Where targeted sexualized violence is used again and again against specific groups of people. You can find them on our Instagram page.
“Massive police violence on March 8th demonstration “Until total Liberation”
On March 8th at the “Until total Liberation” demonstration the people who participated refused to accept this repression. They stood together, actively protected each other, and resisted. These are people who, despite all forms of repression over the last 17 months, have not stopped raising their voices against genocide, settler colonialism, apartheid, zionism and fascism and Germany’s unconditional complicity.
People, since October 7, who have continuously faced police violence at demonstrations, whose residency permits have not been renewed as a tool of repression, who have lost their jobs, who, after 17 months of harassment, have decided not to tolerate this repression, intimidation and injustice any langer and to fight back.
The Statements made by the cops in the interview with rbb, published on March 9th, are not only false but absolutely outrageous. Talking about “selective and targeted punches” from cops side is pure cynicism. We have experienced time and time again how arbitrary, provocative, and harassing the police are towards us—this is simply part of their tactic.
The images circulating online show only one scene from the demonstration. They were taken when the cops blocked the route, halfway through, and stopped us from continuing. However, confrontations occurred throughout the entire demonstration.
The images of extreme sexualized violence that went viral were already recorded an hour earlier. We point this out to make it clear that our demonstration was criminalized from the very beginning and that police violence was not limited to a single “incident.”
The high number of cops present from the Start, the arrests, the delays, the riot units, the reinforcements called to Oranienstraße / Manteuffeistraße— all of this is part of the States strategy of intimidation and repression. Given the amount of false mainstream media coverage of the demonstration, we invite everyone to read the detailed report available on our Instagram page.
About the so-called “counter-rally”:
Apart from the disruptors, the self-proclaimed journalists who always Show up accompanied by cops to seek attention, deliberately profile and film demonstrators, and hand these images over to the cops to help criminalize individuals as well as the demonstrations themselves, the so-called “counter-demonstration” which the media Claims blocked our protest, consisted of only a handful of people. The fact that their gathering was officially registered at the corner of Glogauer Straße / Paul-Lincke-Ufer, while our demonstration never even reached that point because the cops had already blocked us much earlier at Ohlauer Straße / Wiener Straße, only further highlights the collaboration between zionists, mainstream media, and the police.
Regarding the dissolution of the demonstration
Our protest was dissolved by the cops after we refused to do so ourselves. From their police van, they announced that the Organizers had called off the demonstration: a blatant lie that is systematically spread every single time.
For us, it is clear: as long as people decide to continue resisting in the streets, we will not dissolve our demonstration.
This is the consensus of the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists, which we have upheld in past demonstrations and will continue to uphold.
Fake solidarity and going viral
We have received a lot of international media attention and liberal expressions of solidarity that completely misrepresent the context of the violence. Our demonstration was attacked because participants expressed their unconditional solidarity with Palestine and all oppressed people, as well as their chosen path of resistance and actively resisted state intimidation and violence in the streets.
Also because we have chosen to stand hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with all our siblings against the arbitrary repression of the German state. We deeply believe that no liberation is possible for FLINTA alone as long as imperialism and colonial structures dictate what feminism is supposed to be.
If you do not stand with all people facing violence and repression, if you think that beating women is worse than arresting minors, beating, hunting down, and deporting our brothers, if your feminism is only about “women” and you still haven’t thrown your TERF ideology in the trash, if you still haven’t understood that sex work is work, if you are not unconditionally in solidarity with people fighting against land theft, colonialism, and oppressive regimes, then we do not need your solidarity.
Solidarity is practiced in the streets, in our unbreakable chains. In this sense, we reject all expressions of solidarity and Statements that only condemn sexualized police violence against FLINTA while aligning with the state’s interests behind that violence.
Police violence is nothing new. But let it be clear —we are not victims. We take to the streets consciously to fight against it, and we are becoming stronger and stronger in our resistance and our commitment to fight. So join us: our shock and fear will turn into power—and our power will change this world!
Until total liberation!
Alliance of Internationalist Feminists
