From BZ/dpa
A police officer has been fined €2,500 in a trial over the fall of a protester.
The district court in Berlin-Tiergarten found the 36-year-old guilty of assault in office on Wednesday because he was too harsh on the elderly woman when she broke up an unauthorized demonstration against corona measures.
The court ruled that the policeman pushed the woman, who had hesitantly approached him, backwards without justification. “He could have pushed her away,” the judge said. Because it was a difficult situation and there were many provocations, the case is less serious.
The 36-year-old had carried out blocking measures in the Tiergarten area and asked people to leave the place. The woman, who later fell, was asked several times by the police officer to leave the square and pushed back because she had obstructed the operation.
When several police officers carried away a demonstrator, the 63-year-old went to the immediate vicinity of the arrest. The 36-year-old pushed the woman away with a violent jerk, according to the indictment. This happened so surprisingly for the demonstrator that she fell to the ground and suffered bruises.
The accused police officer had denied the allegation. The woman ignored his instructions and he tried to push her back. When she and another demonstrator approached him, he was standing alone between two police vehicles, and his colleagues had just arrested a man. He was convinced that the woman and her companion wanted to disrupt and prevent the arrest – “there were such scenes again and again that day”. Police officers were kicked and beaten.
The court imposed a penalty of 50 daily rates of 50 euros each. The public prosecutor had demanded 40 daily rates. The defense pleaded for acquittal. The verdict is not yet legally binding.