An evening in Sonnenallee

I have many questions about what I witnessed yesterday evening on Sonnenallee.

To keep the story short: hundreds of policemen in anti-riot gear were walking down Sonnenallee, removing anyone in their way. They responded with brutality to any kind of provocation. I literally witnessed a middle-aged woman being pushed around and then to the ground by 7-8 cops in front of me, just because she dared to talk back to one of them.

A massive truck with very powerful headlights was slowly crawling down Sonnenallee, blasting a dystopian message: "Achtung Achtung...".

I haven't seen a single instance where such a display of force was actually needed. It was mostly people chanting "Free Palestine" and screaming, but nothing that warranted the kind of brutality I witnessed.

It seemed like the cops were not following any kind of engagement protocol, just walking down the street and pushing and beating anyone without any apparent reason. I have no idea how the police work in this country, but that kind of physical reaction should only be warranted in the face of immediate danger, which definitely was not there.

They were also very quick to circle the victims to block visibility for people shooting videos (there were hundreds of phones up in the air documenting the situation).

Additionally, as a German taxpayer, I would like to know why hundreds of police and several vehicles, including the huge tank-looking thing, had to be deployed for essentially no reason.

I did my fair share of political demos back in the 90s and 00s but have never seen police being so unhinged and brutal.

Anyone with some knowledge on the matter happen to knows what are the rules of engagement of police in Germany, or these guys were just having a fun night out?