A coalition against police brutality in Germany!

Institutional racism and systematic violence

On April 20th 2025, 21-year-old Lorenz A. – a black man – was fatally shot in the back of the head, torso and hip by a police officer in Oldenburg, Germany. After being denied entry into a nightclub, the victim was said to have threatened the bouncers, and later the police, with pepper spray and a knife. However, the officers’ bodycams were turned off and a reconstruction based on security camera evidence showed no indication that Lorenz A. had threatened the police officers when he was shot. In the days that followed, thousands of demonstrators gathered to attend vigils all across Germany to commemorate Lorenz and stand united against institutional racism among the German police force.

The murder of Lorenz is not an isolated incident; police killings are systematic and primarily affect marginalized communities. Lorenz’s murder is merely a recent addition to a list of killings of people of color at the hands of the German police that have been ungroundedly dismissed as self-defence, including victims like Solikries Biriq in 2024 and Oury Jalloh, who died in 2005 after being set on fire while handcuffed in a police holding cell. Studies show that persons who are perceived as foreigners are twice more likely to be controlled by the German police and nearly a third of police officers have overheard colleagues making racist remarks, while officer-involved shootings have also sharply increased in recent years. Racial profiling and other racist violence committed by the German police is, therefore, an undeniable and growing concern that must be put an end to.

A demonstration in Berlin

Amidst the passing of more restrictive police laws, an alliance was founded in the summer of 2025 to connect the initiative that demanded justice for the murder of Lorenz with those for other victims of German police brutality. This No Isolated Incidents coalition aims to build a network of radically left initiatives to radically remember, raise awareness about and, most importantly, resist discriminatory police violence and its systematic lethality.

With the support of Het Actiefonds, No Isolated Incidents organized its first demonstration as an alliance on the 15th of March in Berlin: the day against police violence. Speakers from several involved initiatives were given the space to grieve and commemorate the murders they individually organize around and, with this, emphasized the systematic pattern that connects these killings. Afterwards, around 800 participants walked through the streets to show their collective anger and urge the police to take responsibility for their actions and face their racial biases.

But this was only the beginning! Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action and stands in solidarity with the coalition’s further efforts to protest police brutality across Germany.