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Victims

M., 24.02.2025. Batonned and tear-gassed – Copenhagen

February 24, 2025 – Cut Ties with Genocide, blockading Maersk Headquarters for Palestine – Copenhaguen
18 to 30 years old. Batonned, water-sprayed and tear-gassed

Cut Ties with Genocide, action in front of Maersk offices, Copenhagen – February 24, 2025

M. : “At some point the pain became unbearable, I shouted very loudly, they didn’t stop”

“The police started suddenly to attack and remove people. At first an activist, I think a girl, quite small in appearance, was grabbed and thrown on the floor by the police. I tried to drag the person between me and the activist next to me so that we could cover them, I was scared they might get trampled by policemen.

In that situation a cold liquid was sprayed on us, I suppose water. The police started beating us, so quickly I lost track of everybody around me, trying to protect myself from batons. While I was being beaten, I think from 2-3 agents, another agent pressed their thumb under my right ear, that caused extreme pain and I tried to move my head so to detach them from me, since I was also protecting myself from the beating, but it didn’t work.

At some point the pain became unbearable, I shouted very loudly, they didn’t stop, I managed to push the hand away from me with my arm, after which I closed myself more into a ball, to avoid being gripped again. The policeman tried several times to grip me again, unsuccessfully, while the others continued to beat me.

The gang beating stopped suddenly, when another activist that knows me fell next to me and called for me, trying to grab me, and then a medic arrived, shouting at the policemen to stop and pushing them away from me. He/She/They managed to get me up and walk me away, even if I struggled to walk, since they had beaten me also next to the right knee. He/She/They tried to sit me on a wall nearby, but another policeman impeded that and pushed us away, even if the medic protested.

We finally found a spot where He/She/They left me after getting sure I was doing good enough to be left with another activist from the group, who was nearby. The medic recognized me also afterwards, at the end of the march, checking again my situation. Soon after I was dropped with the other activist, the teargas was used. We heard an explosion, then a teargas bomb exploded very next to us, I started to run dragging my comrade with me, then she slowed down and I slowed with her. Then I breath the teargas. I couldn’t breath anymore, my throat felt like stuck with air, but empty of oxygen. I panicked and started walking away as fast as I could.

I shouted more than once that I couldn’t breath, I noticed a person puking next to me by the side of the road, but in the panic didn’t know what to do and walked. People from the park took me and helped me wash my eyes and clean my face. I slowly regained myself and made contact with some people from my group. Some of us went missing and we managed to completely collect each other only later that day.”

Physical violence
 Kicks, punches, slaps
 Feet / knees on the nape of the neck, chest or face
XBlows to the victim while under control and/or on the ground
 Blows to the ears
 Strangulation / chokehold
 Painful armlock
 Fingers forced backwards
XSpraying with water
 Dog bites
 Hair pulling
XFingers pressed behind the ears
 Painfully pulling by colson ties or handcuffs
 Use of gloves
 Use of firearm
 Use of “Bean bags” (a coton sack containing tiny lead bullets)
 Use of FlashBall weapon
 Use of sound grenade
 Use of dispersal grenade
XUse of teargas grenade
 Use of rubber bullets weapon (LBD40 type)
XUse of batons
XUse of Pepper Spray
 Use of Taser gun
Psychological violence
 Charge of disturbing public order
 Charge of rebellion
 Accusation of beatings to officer
 Charge of threatening officer
 Charge of insulting an officer
 Threat with a weapon
XAggressive behaviour, disrespect, insults
XCalls to end torment remained unheeded
 Sexist remarks
 Homophobic remarks
 Racist comments
 Violence by fellow police officers
XPassivity of police colleagues
 Lack or refusal of the police officer to identify him or herself
 Vexing or intimidating identity check
 Intimidation or arrest of witnesses
 Prevented from taking photographs or from filming the scene
 Refusal to notify someone or to telephone
 Refusal to administer a breathalyzer
 Refusal to fasten the seatbelt during transport
 Refusal to file a complaint
XRefusal to allow medical care or medication
 Lies, cover-ups, disappearance of evidence
 Undress before witnesses of the opposite sex
 Bend down naked in front of witnesses
 Lack of surveillance or monitoring during detention
 Lack of signature in the Personal Effects Register during detention
 Confiscation, deterioration, destruction of personal effects
 Pressure to sign documents
 Absence of a report
 Deprivation during detention (water, food)
 Inappropriate sanitary conditions during detention (temperature, hygiene, light)
 Complacency of doctors
 Kettling (corraling protestors to isolate them from the rest of the demonstration)
 Prolonged uncomfortable position

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

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S., 24.02.2025. Harrassed, mollested, batonned and gassed – Copenhagen

February 24, 2025 – Cut Ties with Genocide, blockading Maersk Headquarters for Palestine – Copenhaguen
18 to 30 years old. Mollested, harrassed, batonned, pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed

Cut Ties with Genocide, action in front of Maersk offices, Copenhagen – February 24, 2025

S. : “The physical pain, and anxiety caused by the police batons and tear gas, was unlike anything I had ever experienced”

“I had been standing up for most of the blockade, facing towards a large group of activists that were sitting on the ground, with a line of police officers behind them. I stood observing the officers, as they would routinely knee activists in their backs and heads, claiming they were being aggressive (which they were not at any point).

Multiple times they would try to provoke a reaction, and start grabbing at activists, ripping their clothes, removing face coverings etc. One activist had their glasses broken, and many were punched and beaten from above by the police. Several times during these police escalations, police squad would rush in, trying to break up the blockade. They were called back by their superiors every time, as we activists remained calm and de-escelatory.

Suddenly the police started putting on gas masks. Once the police had all masked up, the activists on the side started being pepper sprayed, and beaten with batons by police. Police dogs were barking, activists were coughing and screaming, begging police to calm down, and stop beating them. I saw people crying from the pepper spray, some with blood all over them, either their own, or from helping their friends that had been beaten in the head so violently, they started bleeding.

As this happened, I sat down, and locked arms with my fellow activists, anticipating the same would soon happen to us. Police suddenly surrounded us, and drew their batons. They started violently beating the people sitting towards the back of the group first (people sat closest to the glass facade of the building). I could hear and see the loud thuds of their batons striking my friends in the arms, legs, heads, bodies, everywhere. Police surrounded us all around, and started beating us sitting in the front as well.

One of my friends was thrown and dragged from the back of the group, all the way to the front, away from her fellow activists. As she continuously asked police why they were beating her, and asked them to stop, they kept on going. As they were striking her all over, they kept up pushing her to the ground, while demanding she get up and leave. They were dragging her around by her kuffiyeh, strangling her, as other cops kept beating her.

While this was happening, police approached me, journalists and photographers stood in front of me, and the people I was sitting next to. First they attacked the photographers and journalists. As they were forced away, police started screaming at us to get up, as they tore at our clothes, beating up with batons wile hiding behind their gas masks, helmets and other riot gear.

In front, and to the sides of me the cops systematically singled people out, beat them, ripped them away from the group, continued beating them, and left them on the ground, to be dragged and pushed away by other cops, as they then proceeded on with choosing the next activist they would beat. Once the person to the right of me got beaten and removed, the officer started walking towards me. I locked arms with someone else on my right, as the policeman pulled at my clothes, while trying to kick people around me away. He did this with his baton raised up next to his head, ready to strike. His eyes were wide open behind his gas mask, filled with adrenaline and rage. I looked at him, asking him in Danish what the fuck he was doing, and if he could calm down please. He looked at me as he struck me with all his might on my right knee.

I again asked him to stop, still with my arms locked with my comrades, but the palms of my hands facing upwards to demonstrate to them I was doing absolutely nothing, being completely non violent. He and one of his colleagues tore me away, and pushed me onto the lawn. I limped along, trying to support my weight on just one leg, while the police grabbed the sleeve of my jacket so hard, it was causing pain, and constricting blood flow to my arm. As I was dragged along I explained to the officer (the same one why had struck my leg) that I couldn’t walk because he had hit me, and if he please could slow down, and loosen his grip on my arm. He angrily mumbled something, as I was shoved a final time, and found a tree to rest up against. I had been pushed behind a line of police, who were funnelling all the beaten activists away from the area where they had been sitting.

They stood in a line on a stone ledge which bordered the grass lawn I was on, and a foot path which activists were fleeing along. The ledge started low, and got higher as the foot path sloped downwards away from the building. While I was in a state of shock and pain, standing up against a tree, one of the cops in the line turned around, and ran towards me, screaming at me to get the fuck away. He grabbed me, pulled me towards the other cops. He, along with some other cops shoved me over a quite high portion of the ledge. I stumbled, but somehow didn’t fall. As I was stumbling, I started hearing loud bangs, people started screaming, and tear gas filled the air.

A tear gas canister came flying towards me from the left, and exploded about half a meter away from me, just above eye level. My adrenaline really kicked in, as I struggled to hear, breathe or see. I was on the footpath, with what I counted at the time, as three tear gas canisters within 5 meters of me, filling the air with smokey gas, being blown in the direction the police were making us go. I jumped up the opposite ledge of the footpath, as a fellow activist did the same, but fell. I stopped to help them up, and we continued.

It became impossible to breathe. My mouth, throat, lungs eyes and face were burning as I ran following my comrades in front of me. I picked up a bottle of water I saw on the ground. Once I was out of the gas, I rinsed my eyes by a park bench. Sitting on that bench was one of the activists that has been struck on the head. A medic and friend was removing the blood soaked bandage from their head, revealing a deep, and very swollen cut on the back of their head. As they were treating the wound, and me and other comrades were rinsing the tear gas from our eyes, a police van and several cops approached us from along the park path. They shouted at us to leave. We showed and explained we were treating a person they had severely injured, but they kept on shouting at us to leave, with batons drawn, not even looking twice at the injured activist.

We moved on to the next set of benches further away, which they again forced us away from. We finally reached the road, and joined the demonstration that was slowly forming of the nearly 1000 activists that had just been beaten, pepper sprayed, and tear gassed.

All escalation was done by the police. No violence was demonstrated by any activist. All pleading for help and for police to stop the beating was just met by more beating and absolutely no remorse. The physical pain, and anxiety caused by the police batons and tear gas, was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Such a completely and utterly disproportionate escalation caused by police, in response to a completely non-violent and peaceful protest against a company responsible for shipping weapons and weapon components to Israel.

I believe I got off lucky that day. Most of my friends and comrades were beaten far worse than I was. And yet, what we experienced is nothing compared to what Palestinians and other oppressed peoples experience globally every day, at the hands of western and western backed imperialism. It is disgusting to me how callous and violent these despicable, spineless people, were, all dressed up in protective gear, armed with offensive weapons. Truly a domestic military force, that acts at the beck and call of capital and big corporations. I hope all the badly beaten and bloodied activists I came across while running away from the tear gas are doing okay. Free free Palestine! Writing this was quite therapeutic for me:-) I hope its not too long…”

Physical violence
 XKicks, punches, slaps
 Feet / knees on the nape of the neck, chest or face
XBlows to the victim while under control and/or on the ground
 Blows to the ears
XStrangulation / chokehold
XPainful armlock
 Fingers forced backwards
 Spraying with water
 Dog bites
XHair pulling
 Painfully pulling by colson ties or handcuffs
XUse of gloves
 Use of firearm
 Use of “Bean bags” (a coton sack containing tiny lead bullets)
 Use of FlashBall weapon
 Use of sound grenade
 Use of dispersal grenade
XUse of teargas grenade
 Use of rubber bullets weapon (LBD40 type)
XUse of batons
XUse of Pepper Spray
 Use of Taser gun
Psychological violence
 Charge of disturbing public order
 Charge of rebellion
 Accusation of beatings to officer
 Charge of threatening officer
 Charge of insulting an officer
 Threat with a weapon
XAggressive behaviour, disrespect, insults
XCalls to end torment remained unheeded
 Sexist remarks
 Homophobic remarks
 Racist comments
 Violence by fellow police officers
XPassivity of police colleagues
 Lack or refusal of the police officer to identify him or herself
 Vexing or intimidating identity check
 Intimidation or arrest of witnesses
XPrevented from taking photographs or from filming the scene
 Refusal to notify someone or to telephone
 Refusal to administer a breathalyzer
 Refusal to fasten the seatbelt during transport
 Refusal to file a complaint
XRefusal to allow medical care or medication
 Lies, cover-ups, disappearance of evidence
 Undress before witnesses of the opposite sex
 Bend down naked in front of witnesses
 Lack of surveillance or monitoring during detention
 Lack of signature in the Personal Effects Register during detention
 Confiscation, deterioration, destruction of personal effects
 Pressure to sign documents
 Absence of a report
 Deprivation during detention (water, food)
 Inappropriate sanitary conditions during detention (temperature, hygiene, light)
 Complacency of doctors
 Kettling (corraling protestors to isolate them from the rest of the demonstration)
 Prolonged uncomfortable position

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

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R., 24.02.2025. Mollested, batonned and gassed – Copenhagen

February 24, 2025 – Cut Ties with Genocide, blockading Maersk Headquarters for Palestine – Copenhaguen
18 to 30 years old. Mollested, batonned, pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed

Cut Ties with Genocide, action in front of Maersk offices, Copenhagen – February 24, 2025

R. : “People die in crushes, and so to instigate that just to get people to move is inhumane and unbelievably hurtful”

“We walked collectively in a line to get to Maersk headquarters, where the police tried to block us, but experienced no police violence as of yet. Later, as I was sitting down along with others in front of the building, the word came that we should disperse, but we did not hear that at all while we were seating, we didn’t know what was coming, we saw people coming suffering from pepper-spray, so we were kind of expecting pepper-spray, but when they came, they came with dogs and were holding their batons ready.

I was not amongst the first persons they got at, I was sitting against police officers, I had a knee pressed against my back like everyone in the row. When we tried to get them to stop kneeling on people (to the point that one person fainted), we told them many times that this person could not breathe, even chanting loudly “We are peaceful, what are you?”), they laughed, finding it funny. Otherwise they kept a stone face on.

We were filmed and photographed repeatedly by the police and non-comrades persons, even though comrades were trying to block them.

The police officers behind us was constantly trying to push us forward and further down, at least the people closest to them. At some point they put their helmets and gas masks on, and they immediately became more aggressive.

They started throwing other protesters who were sitting further out and at the same time the police behind us started to kick us, pushing us down on the ground and they all started beating us with batons multiple times, pretty randomly. I was struck multiple times on my right arm on the same spot, so I have multiple bruises covering my whole upper arm, I still haven’t had it properly X-rayed yet.

I was frightened the whole time. When I was beaten up while sitting down I was afraid because I was in terrible pain. I was really scared when we were pushed to a crush, because people die in crushes, and so to instigate that just to get people to move is inhumane and unbelievably hurtful.

They were cordonning us into this moshpit of awful pain of tear gas. I was with a buddy but he was carried away while I was still on the ground, lying on my back after being hit multiple times, with my left arm under my body, I could not move, I was pressed against other activists lying on the ground as well, and at the same time they were coming towards us threatening, still beating people. Then I was thrown up on my feet then pushed down again, beaten a few more times on the arm and the wrist, 6 times on my arm and one on my wrist.

After that I was led by a fellow activist away from the cops through the tear gas that they had thrown, from which I had a reaction and was struggling to both see and breathe. I was disoriented, I did not know where I was, I did not have a clear picture of the situation, I was in shock at that point. There was someone who was struggling more than me, so I tried to guide them away from the cops, but then I lost track of them. I pressed on away from the cops, and at some point I was found by some friends of my affinity group, we were followed by the cops in the distance in the park, from all sides, that was really frightening. But eventually we managed to get away using a side road. That was the end of my interaction with the police that day.

The next day, the police trying to break in at the camp caused me a lot of anxiety, even though I felt safe between the wall of the encampment, like a prolongation of yesterday’s events. I’ve been dragged across the ground by a single cop before, like fairly roughly, but I’ve never been beaten or tear-gassed or pepper-sprayed at all. I’m really scared about the next days being alone.”

Physical violence
 Kicks, punches, slaps
XFeet / knees on the nape of the neck, chest or face
XBlows to the victim while under control and/or on the ground
 Blows to the ears
 Strangulation / chokehold
 Painful armlock
 Fingers forced backwards
 Spraying with water
 Dog bites
 Hair pulling
 Tirage par les cheveux
 Painful tightening of colson ties or handcuffs
 Painfully pulling by colson ties or handcuffs
 Use of gloves
 Use of firearm
 Use of “Bean bags” (a coton sack containing tiny lead bullets)
 Use of FlashBall weapon
 Use of sound grenade
 Use of dispersal grenade
XUse of teargas grenade
 Use of rubber bullets weapon (LBD40 type)
XUse of batons
XUse of Pepper Spray
 Use of Taser gun
Psychological violence
 Charge of disturbing public order
 Charge of rebellion
 Accusation of beatings to officer
 Charge of threatening officer
 Charge of insulting an officer
 Threat with a weapon
 Aggressive behaviour, disrespect, insults
 Calls to end torment remained unheeded
 Sexist remarks
 Homophobic remarks
 Racist comments
 Violence by fellow police officers
 Passivity of police colleagues
 Lack or refusal of the police officer to identify him or herself
 Vexing or intimidating identity check
 Intimidation or arrest of witnesses
 Prevented from taking photographs or from filming the scene
 Refusal to notify someone or to telephone
 Refusal to administer a breathalyzer
 Refusal to fasten the seatbelt during transport
 Refusal to file a complaint
XRefusal to allow medical care or medication
 Lies, cover-ups, disappearance of evidence
 Undress before witnesses of the opposite sex
 Bend down naked in front of witnesses
 Lack of surveillance or monitoring during detention
 Lack of signature in the Personal Effects Register during detention
 Confiscation, deterioration, destruction of personal effects
 Pressure to sign documents
 Absence of a report
 Deprivation during detention (water, food)
 Inappropriate sanitary conditions during detention (temperature, hygiene, light)
 Complacency of doctors
 Kettling (corraling protestors to isolate them from the rest of the demonstration)
 Prolonged uncomfortable position

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

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