New Women Connectors (NWC) and the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) Condemn Targeted Racial Profiling and Police Violence Against Human Rights Defender Sandra Alloush Joint Statement by New Women Connectors and the European Network Against Racism 16 June 2025 On the morning of 16 June 2025, New Women Connectors’ (NWC) Advocacy Officer, Sandra Alloush, was racially profiled, detained, and physically harassed by German police officers at a train station in Kehl. Ms. Alloush is also the Vice-Chair of the Board of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). She was subjected to violence and criminalisation while travelling by train from France to Germany.
NWC and ENAR strongly condemn the systemic practice of racial profiling and discriminatory policing by the German border police, particularly targeting racialised individuals, migrants, refugees, and those perceived to have a migration background.
This statement is issued in response to this deeply distressing incident involving our colleague.
Account of the incident:
Sandra Alloush was travelling from France, where she resides, to Germany. In Kehl, she was stopped and asked for identification, which she provided, in the form of a valid residency permit in France and an official document proving that she is currently in the process of renewing her travel documents.
Without providing any justification, Ms. Alloush was escorted by four police officers to a police station. When asked why she was being searched and questioned, she was treated with aggression and pulled away from the train by two male officers. They took her to a police station in front of the train station. This is where she was stripped and searched by two female officers. During this process, the officers treated her in a degrading manner. They took her pictures and fingerprints and made her sign a document saying that she was trying to cross into Germany illegally and that she resisted arrest – these are false accusations. After being held for several hours in detention inside the police station, they told her to return to France on foot from Kehl and walked with her until they made sure that she had crossed the border. While she was forced to delete any video or photograph of this incident from her phone, there are surveillance cameras at the train station, on the street and inside the police station that can confirm the
occurrence.
This is the testimony from Ms. Alloush herself: “While travelling this morning from Strasbourg, France to Berlin, Germany, I was stopped by the German border police at the train station in Kehl, on the French-German border, for not carrying a valid passport. I presented my valid French permanent residency permit, along with my expired travel document and the official paper confirming that its renewal is in process. Despite this, I was treated with extreme hostility.
I was violently arrested, threatened with more violence, taken to the police station, stripped naked by officers, and subjected to a humiliating body search. All my belongings were searched. I was taken into detention, fingerprinted, photographed, made to sign papers under the threat of not being released, and treated as though I were a criminal. After hours of this degrading treatment, I was forced to walk back to France.
While the physical ordeal was painful, the trauma and psychosocial damage inflicted were even deeper. As a refugee, a woman, and a human rights advocate, I am shaken not only by the violence of this experience but by the sheer normalisation of such abuse at borders.”
Response by New Women Connectors (NWC) and European Network Against Racism
(ENAR):
As a migrant and refugee women-led organisation committed to inclusive policymaking and systemic justice, NWC refuses to accept this blatant violation of human rights, and unequivocally denounces the violence and racial profiling inflicted on our team member.
Anila Noor, NWC’s Founder and Managing Director: “NWC is completely shocked that this happened to Sandra, a well accomplished human rights journalist who is dedicated to sharing the truth about rights violations and stories of individuals who suffer from all kinds of injustices. As a refugee activist based in France, Sandra has experienced immense inequalities, but this is
by far the most egregious form of violence.”
Nurhidayah Hassan, NWC’s Partnership and Community Lead: “While it is unfortunately not uncommon for racialised people to experience border and police violence in Europe, this is a reality that we should not quietly accept. German police violence has been on the rise, and we know that racialised people, refugees and migrants are disproportionately affected by police
brutality. We need to collectively speak up and push against such injustices rooted in structural racism and the normalisation of state violence.”
Emmanuel Achiri, ENAR Policy Advisor on migration and police violence: “It is important to underscore that the violence experienced by ENAR’s Vice-Chair, Sandra Alloush, at the German border in Kehl is not an isolated incident. It is part of a broader pattern fueled by the legitimization of racial profiling and violence against Black and Brown people in Europe – now
further entrenched by the 2024 Schengen Border Code Reform. We are not only demanding a full and transparent investigation into this incident; we are also calling on the European Parliament and the European Commission to urgently introduce specific amendments to the Schengen Border Code. Migration control must never be used as a pretext for racially profiling people on the move.”
NWC and ENAR will support our valued colleague, community member and friend Sandra Alloush in demanding for a full investigation into this incident and to demand accountability from the German police authority for their actions and conduct.
For questions and concerns, you can reach out to us at: communication@newwomenconnectors.com
Joint Statement by New Women Connectors and the European Network Against Racism
