A pro-Palestine protestor physically assaulted a German anti-antisemitism campaigner Karoline Preisler during a demonstration on March 18, Berlin Police confirmed.
Preisler, who has regularly demonstrated against antisemitism since October 7, 2023, arrived at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Mitte, Berlin, to confront the protestors.
The protestor hit Preisler on the hand with a wooden flagpole carrying a Palestinian flag, Berlin Police confirmed.
In a video posted by Preisler following the incident, shortly after the hit, the protestor is separated from Preisler by Berlin Police.
The woman attempted to hit Preisler again, but Berlin Police blocked the hit and told the protestor to step back.
„Down, down #Israel!“„Remove this dirty rat! Remove this dirty rat!“#Berlin #b1803 And then the woman hits me. Rats are very stubborn.#UntilTheLastHostage pic.twitter.com/9onwx0KhM7
— Karoline Preisler (@PreislerKa) March 18, 2025
The video cuts to the protest leader calling on the police to, according to her translation, "Remove (from the protest) this dirty rat! Remove this dirty rat!"
Police confirmed following the incident that they had temporarily arrested a 53-year-old woman on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
Preisler told the Tagesspiegel that she was struck once on the hand with the flagpole but was able to dodge the other strikes. Her injury was treated, x-rayed, and bandaged by a doctor.
Spat on, harrassed
Preisler began public campaigning during the coronavirus but has been a regular feature of anti-antisemitism demonstrations in Berlin.
She told TAZ that she had been spat on and harassed during pro-Palestine demonstrations, which was much worse than what she experienced during the pandemic.
"What I'm seeing now at the Palestine demonstrations, I've never experienced before. I didn't know that this kind of brutality and aggression had become so commonplace among entire groups of people. At every demonstration, there's someone trying to hurt me, hitting me with a flagpole or bumping into me," Preisler told TAZ in July 2024.