Antifa Mob Attacks Pro-Life Rosary Rally in Göttingen — Twelve Police Officers Injured

What began as a peaceful public Rosary for the unborn ended with violent left-wing protesters charging police lines, twelve injured officers, and our pro-life volunteers being escorted out of Göttingen under police protection. Yet throughout the ordeal, we stood our ground with courage and composure. Neither threats nor the advancing mob succeeded in intimidating us or silencing our defence of unborn life.

Public rosary in reparation

On Saturday, August 15, I joined young volunteers of TFP Student Action Europe. We gathered with other pro-lifers in the central market square of Göttingen, Germany, for a public rosary rally under the motto “Pray and act against the sin of abortion.”

40 pro-lifers and I prayed the Rosary, distributed flyers and spoke out in defence of unborn children. A band with pipes, drums and brass accompanied the campaign, giving the public square a beautiful, yet resolute atmosphere.

The event itself remained peaceful, a fact also confirmed by the police.

But around us, hostility was mounting.

Antifa protesters surrounded us

Shortly after the campaign began, radical left-wing and Antifa counterprotesters started gathering nearby.

They attempted to drown out our prayers and speeches with shouting, ‘music’ and noise. Volunteers distributing flyers were insulted, subjected to obscene gestures and, in some cases, shoved.

As the afternoon continued, the pro-death protestors became increasingly hostile and aggressive.

The contrast could hardly have been greater: on one side, young Catholics peacefully praying the Rosary and publicly defending innocent unborn life; on the other, a crowd attempting to shout them down and drive them from the public square.

The intimidation failed.

Surrounded by insults and hostility, we remained firm and dignified. We continued our prayers and our campaign rather than allowing the aggressiveness of the opponents to dictate whether Catholics could make their convictions heard in public.

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Violence erupts as we leave

The most dangerous moment came after the campaign had ended.

At around 6 p.m., we began making our way toward our vehicles under police protection. A large group of counterprotesters then moved in our direction.

Police officers formed a barrier between the two groups.

The counterprotesters pressed heavily against the police line and violence broke out against the officers. Police had to push the attackers back and use pepper spray to prevent them from reaching my friends and me.

The scale of the confrontation was extraordinary. According to police figures reported in the German press, officers resorted to coercive measures around 200 times during the operation. 

Twelve police officers were injured, suffering injuries connected with pepper spray, and several ambulances were called to the scene.

The violence attracted nationwide attention, with major German media reporting on the events in Göttingen.

In a press release, the Göttingen police stated that we, the pro-lifers, always remained peaceful. 

“They did not get through to us”

One of our volunteers, Marco Hildebrand, who was present at the campaign, later described the situation to the German newspaper Junge Freiheit: “The police officers were attacked. Fortunately, they did not get through to us,” he said.

A continuous 360-degree recording reviewed by the newspaper documented crucial moments of the confrontation, including the police line and attempts by counterprotesters to advance toward us.

Faced with the advancing mob, we did not panic or abandon our principles. We remained together, composed and steadfast while police struggled to hold back the aggressors.

The situation became so serious that simply leaving the city turned into a police operation.

The other pro-lifers and I were brought under police protection to our vehicles in a parking garage. Police secured the exits and accompanied our group as we departed Göttingen.

They wanted intimidation. They found steadfastness.

The scenes in Göttingen reveal something deeper than an isolated confrontation between demonstrators.

Why should young Catholics praying the Rosary and peacefully defending unborn children provoke such fury?

TFP volunteers across Europe have repeatedly encountered insults, attempts at intimidation and physical aggression during peaceful campaigns. The objective is often transparent: make the price of publicly defending traditional moral principles so high that Catholics and conservatives retreat from the public square.

Göttingen showed why that strategy will fail.

We did not allow a hostile crowd to dictate what we could say, where we could pray or which truths we could defend. Against shouting we answered with prayer; against intimidation, with courage; against attempts to drive us away, with steadfastness.

We left Göttingen not defeated, but standing tall and more determined than ever to continue the fight for innocent unborn life.

Neither insults nor threats nor mob violence will make TFP Student Action Europe abandon the public square.

We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. And we will not stop fighting for the unborn.

We will be back

Far from frightening the volunteers into retreat, the events in Göttingen strengthened our conviction that precisely those places where the radical left tries hardest to silence the pro-life message are places where TFP Student Action Europe must return, and return more often.

Intimidation must never be rewarded with absence. Attempts to drive peaceful Catholics from the streets must instead be met with an even firmer, more frequent and determined public presence.

For that reason, another TFP Student Action Europe campaign in Göttingen is already being planned for the coming weeks.

The message is simple: Where they try to silence us, we will return.