‘I was beaten by German police at a Palestine march’

25-year-old Kitty O'Brien said she will continue protesting so long as the genocide is still happening.

Speaking to Politics JOE about the experience, Kitty said she felt like she was punched 'into a new dimension.'

"I don't feel like this is real life at the moment, but it's not new. I've been beaten up a lot of times at protests before; this is just the latest," she stated.

O'Brien attended a pro-Palestine march in the German capital on August 28th, which she described as a 'pretty classic protest.'

"We were already getting a lot of violence and brutality and aggression from the cops, and then at one point one of the police officers was punching me and my friends, telling us to leave the protest, but actually we couldn't leave the protest because they had us surrounded, and so I challenged him and told him to punch me in the face, and he did.

"He punched me twice in the face, and my nose started bleeding, and then, as he took me away to arrest me, he broke my arm. I was brought to the hospital; the following morning, I had surgery, and then I was in the hospital for about a week," explained O'Brien.

The injuries she sustained have affected her work life and economic situation.

O'Brien works as a freelance costume designer for a theatre school and dragon cabaret performers, but now, due to her arm being in a sling, she is unable to sew and therefore unable to work.

"I don't know how long this will last. The doctors said that the progress they had hoped I would make by the time I left the hospital wasn't met.

"So I'm basically unable to work; I don't know for how long, and I'm just in this limbo situation every morning, hoping that my hand will work again," she explained.

Furthermore, the activist spoke of the aggression German police hold toward pro-Palestine marches.

"It's funny because I moved here in August 23, and in October 23, I had no idea that this is how Germany would react, and most people with sound critical thinking skills knew this was a genocide early on."

O'Brien revealed that she was even let go and told not to come back to her volunteering job after speaking about her pro-Palestine beliefs.

"I started going to protests where so many of my friends were beaten up. I would meet people who also recently moved here and were in complete shock that a country that had committed such egregious crimes against humanity would support another genocide.

"After October 23, there was some talk about 'Oh, this is because of German guilt; this is German guilt; this is German guilt.'

"I can tell you with 100% certainty that when I look in the eyes of those German police officers, there is not an ounce of guilt. There is no remorse for the sins of Germany gone by, because Germany gone by is here to stay," she stated.

The 25-year-old also highlighted the importance of noting that what happened to her 'has been happening to non-white people on the streets of Berlin for two years.'

"It's obviously not the first time I've been beaten up, but it's not the first time any of us have [been beaten up].

"It's relentless, it's constant, and it's strange if you go to a protest and aren't at least shoved or slapped with a gloved hand, and of course, my Palestinian, Arab, and racialised non-white comrades and friends are targeted a lot more than I am.

"They are putting a lot more on the line. I have an EU passport; I can go home to Ireland if I need to, if I want to. A lot of these people are not in the same position," the 25-year-old continued.

"I mean, it's extremely important that more people in a similar position to me actually get to the streets because at the moment it's just dwindling numbers, and it's basically just Palestinians on their own trying to protest their own families being murdered.

"I'm not expecting the white Germans to do anything about it, because they haven't for two years, but other people in a similar position to me really need to use that [privilege] and get out into the streets," added O'Brien.

You can watch the full Politics JOE podcast episode with Kitty O'Brien below.