#FreeMaja
#Berlin
#Protest
#Journalism
#Repression
>Unser Redakteur wurde verhaftet
ZDF macht sich zum Handlanger für Polizei - Zecke im Bullenwagen?
>Our editor was arrested
During the Save Maja action camp, the police arrested our editor Basti. Due to his journalistic coverage of the camp and individual actions, he is accused of, among other things, "disturbing the peace." Basti says: "It's a scandal that the police are criminalizing media workers in this way."
This afternoon, our editor Basti was arrested by Berlin police in a side street of the Foreign Ministry, dragged into a car, and driven away.
Over the past few days, he had covered the "Save Maja Action Camp" at the Federal Foreign Office for a detailed report. Today, as a journalist, he also participated in various creative activities in the city center aimed at drawing attention to Maja T.'s situation.
This included a protest at the ZDF capital studio. The goal there was to hand over a USB stick containing a video drawing attention to Maja T.'s situation. Our editor, clearly identified as a journalist, stood on the sidelines with a large camera and documented the protest. When security guards refused to allow the activists to discuss Maja T. with officials, they chanted a few slogans and left the ZDF building of their own accord. ZDF described the protest as "brief and peaceful."
At the camp, police officers searched for people using photos—apparently taken by ZDF security personnel—and "discovered" our editor Basti. As he was leaving the camp to continue working on his report, they cut him off, drove up to him in a car on the sidewalk, grabbed him roughly, and dragged him into the police car when he shouted "Help!" Participants in the protest camp immediately expressed their solidarity, but the police drove away at high speed and took him to another location.
Our colleague is now accused of "breach of the peace" and "resistance to law enforcement officers." "It's a scandal that the police criminalize media workers in this way," our editor Basti declared after being released from the detention center. The police's attitude was also made clear by the fact that they referred to other camp participants as "ticks" in the patrol car.
We view this police operation as an attack on press freedom aimed at restricting our reporting and protest against it most strongly! Journalistic coverage of protests is an important tool, especially in times of increasing repression against political movements. However, it also appears to be a right that cannot be taken for granted, but rather must be continually fought for.
in German below
https://perspektive-online.net/2025/07/unser-redakteur-wurde-festgenommen/