Irish citizen detained by Berliner Polizei for speaking Irish at protest outside Irish Embassy

Irish Bloc Berlin, which describes itself as a Berlin-based platform for Irish solidarity with Palestine, says that an Irish citizen was detained outside the Irish Embassy in Berlin this week for speaking Irish during a pro-Palestine demonstration.

In a statement, Irish Bloc Berlin says it had registered its demonstration - titled ‘Ireland’s Complicit!’ - with the Berliner Polizei three days prior, as is standard practice for Berlin demonstrations.

The organizers of the demonstration informed the Polizei that the demonstration would be held partially in Irish.

The Bloc says that the Polizei have, "over the past 18 months of genocide," repeatedly banned the Arabic language, and other languages, from being spoken at demonstrations in Berlin, home to the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe. Hence, it has become de facto necessary to confirm with Polizei which languages may be used at demonstrations.

The Polizei instructed that a decision on the permissibility of the Irish language would be included within upcoming documentation, the Bloc said.

However, Irish Bloc Berlin says that upon receiving its official documentation for the demonstration, "no mention of the Irish language, or of other languages, was made - normally meaning Irish and other languages would be permitted."

However, Irish Bloc Berlin says that on the morning of the demonstration, the Polizei verbally informed the organizers "that the Irish language would be banned until the Polizei could find an interpreter of the language​​​​​​​."

Learning this, the organizers cancelled a planned Irish-language speech.

The Bloc said Polizei also later insisted that they needed to see the demonstration’s music playlist to inspect their lyrics.

"It was verbally stated that Arabic music would not be allowed to be played," the Bloc said. "It was further stated that the lyrics of the songs would have to be inspected for references to bodies of water."

The demonstration outside the Irish Embassy in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday, April 16. (Irish Bloc Berlin / Ian, @bearlachas_rapper)

The demonstration began at 11 am. Irish Bloc Berlin says that throughout, "casual and colloquial use of the Irish language was naturally present in the speech patterns of the attending Irish protesters, who nevertheless were still speaking in English.

"Members of the Polizei approached protesters on several occasions and informed the speakers that the Irish language was not allowed to be spoken during the demonstration."

At 12 pm, with no interpreter having been found by the Polizei, the demonstration organizers requested written confirmation of the language ban, so that legal objections could be raised to the arbitrary ban. The Bloc says written confirmation was denied to them.

At 12:30, organizers spoke to the director of the unit present at the demonstration, who admitted that there was a failure in communication on the side of the Polizei. When organizers asked what they could have done differently to avoid this from happening again, she replied that there was nothing they could have done differently. Regardless, the language ban was upheld.

Irish Embassy in Berlin

During the demonstration, two of the protestors who had gathered signatures on a letter addressed to the Irish Ambassador to Germany, Maeve Collins, were initially denied entry to the Embassy by the Berliner Polizei.

The letter detailed a list of demands to the Irish government, including the following:

• Stop selling Israeli war bonds via the Central Bank of Ireland.
• End dual-use military trade with Israel.
• Stop the illegal use of Irish airspace and Shannon Airport as a waypoint for arms trafficking from the US and other allies of Israel, including Germany. This is in violation of EU laws, the Chicago Convention, and Ireland's own domestic laws.
• Pass the Occupied Territories Bill immediately, in its full and original form.
  Reject the IHRA definition of antisemitism, shamefully adopted by Ireland in January, in favour of the definition outlined in the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism.
• Stop the police brutality against protestors. Immediately conduct an investigation into An Garda Síochána for racialised, gendered and sexual abuse.
• Intervene in Germany's deportation of Irish citizens.

One of the Polizei agreed to ask the Embassy if they would send somebody outside to collect the letter. The Embassy, Irish Bloc Berlin says, refused.

An organizer of the demonstration then made a phone call to the Embassy, and they, after some time, agreed that two protesters could enter and hand-deliver the letter.

"This prioritisation of the Berliner Polizei over the Irish Embassy's own citizens is contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the Bloc says.

At 12:45, the two Irish citizens were escorted by two members of the Polizei to hand the letter to the receptionist of the Embassy.

The demonstration outside the Irish Embassy in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday, April 16. (Irish Bloc Berlin / Ian, @bearlachas_rapper)

Speeches, songs, and chants continued in English at the demonstration.

At 1 pm, just as the demonstration was ending, an Irish citizen leading English-language chants gave a coda with the phrases 'Lámha as an Phalastín' (Hands off Palestine) and ‘Saoirse don Phalastín’ (Freedom for Palestine).

At this, several police approached and arrested the individual, the Bloc says, later sharing the below clip of the arrest on social media.

The Bloc says the individual was charged with "Verstoß Versammlungsgesetz," which means "Violation of the assembly law," in this case, being the fact that the person spoke Irish.

When asked if it was aware of the arrest outside the Irish Embassy in Berlin, a spokesperson for Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs told IrishCentral on Friday: "The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of the protest that took place outside Embassy Berlin.

"During the protest, representatives of the demonstrators presented a letter to the public counter of the Embassy."

Irish Bloc Berlin says that the arrest at its protest was not an "isolated or random incident." The same day as their demonstration, students occupied Humboldt University in protest of "Germany's increasing weaponisation of deportations, particularly against Palestinians and those who support Palestinian liberation, including the Berlin4."

The Bloc says: "Some of the same members of the Polizei​​​​​​​ who were on duty at the protest at the​​​​​​​ Irish Embassy, and who had at the embassy taken a hands-off approach for once, could later be seen on video beating and brutalising the people standing outside the occupied lecture hall in support of those inside. 

"Arabic was banned at this student protest."

The Bloc went on to note that the Berlin administrative court has granted interim relief to one of the Irish citizens who received a deportation order at the beginning of January.

The other three people, another Irish citizen, a Polish citizen, and a US citizen, have not yet received the same word back, but they have received a court order which states that they can stay until a decision is made on the filed motion within the coming days or weeks.

The motion that the individuals filed was to be able to stay in Berlin for the duration of the appeal of their cases - which the Ministry for the Interior of Berlin originally wanted them to do from their respective home countries.