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← All fact checksMorning run · September 29, 2026 · #16 by reach

Claim About Abolishing Berlin Police Incorrectly Interprets Die Linke's Position

Did Berlin Left Party candidate Elif Eralp promise to abolish the Berlin police if elected mayor?

False

The video shows a Die Linke rally and a short spoken sentence claiming a promise to 'abolish the Berlin police'. Authoritative party materials and major German news coverage describe Die Linke's proposals as reducing police powers and increasing oversight — not a literal abolition — and we found no reliable evidence the speaker made the exact promise. The claim is false; the clip appears real but is being used in a misleading way.

Likely genuine
The post as it circulated, labelled by our media check.Video · 0:12

Claims

✕ 1 false

„Bürgermeisterin wird die Abschaffung der Berliner Polizei sein. Das verspreche ich euch!" (I will be mayor and will abolish the Berlin police; I promise you).

✕ False— speaker 185% confidence

No reliable reporting or the party's own published material shows any Die Linke leading candidate promising a literal abolition of the Berlin police. Die Linke's published positions and recent news coverage describe plans to reduce certain police powers, remove 'kriminalitätsbelastete Orte', strengthen oversight and invest in prevention/social work — not to abolish the Berlin police entirely. Major German outlets covering the Berlin campaign frame the party's position as a reorganisation/downsizing of police powers, not an outright abolition, so the spoken promise as presented is contradicted by authoritative sources.

dielinke.berlin ↗die-linke.de ↗tagesschau.de ↗berliner-zeitung.de ↗

What was posted

TikTok

Did Berlin Left Party candidate Elif Eralp promise to abolish the Berlin police if elected mayor?

Who posted it

TikTok
@schimanskie1

Account under a year old

View the account on TikTok ↗

Account check

Looks like a genuine account20%
Likelihood of automation80%

Estimates from public signals — account age, posting pattern, audience — not a judgement of the person behind the account, and separate from whether this post is true.

What stood out

  • No publicly available information about the account 'schimanskie1' on TikTok.
  • Account lacks a profile picture, bio, and recent posts, which are typical for inactive or bot accounts.
  • No external references or mentions of 'schimanskie1' found in web search results.
Signals (4)+
Posting cadence
0
Follower ratio
0
Notable news coverage
No
Fact check history
No

Account checked September 29, 2026, 09:50 UTC

The media

Video
Likely genuine

Synthetic-media detector

Detector ran

The claim stands or falls on whether the media is real, so the detector ran.

AI-generated likelihood1%
Deepfake likelihood0%

Scores are the detector’s estimate for the file as uploaded. A low score does not rule out editing, a spliced caption, or footage shown out of context — those are judged above. Model v3.

Sources

4 sources reviewed

The full story

Bias

NoneSlightModerateStrong

Leans anti-Die Linke. The clip is presented with large 'Die Linke' branding and a short, provocative caption; the edited 12-second TikTok format and the extracted quote emphasise an extreme claim that opponents and some comment sections are already using to criticise the party, indicating a partisan framing aimed at portraying Die Linke as intending to 'abolish the police'.

Bias describes how the post frames its message — the slant of the language, selection and emphasis — and is judged separately from whether the claim is true. A true claim can still be framed with a strong slant.

How we checked

1 min 17 s

✓ Claim checked✓ Media checked✓ Sources checked

Why 75% confidence

High

High confidence from independent corroboration.

About this check

Platform
TikTok
Posted by
@schimanskie1
Where it spread
Germany
Language
DE
Status
● Post is live
Verified
September 29, 2026, 09:52 UTC
Published
September 29, 2026, 09:52 UTC

Reach. Viral TikTok during the Berlin election period; no counts published

This verdict was generated with AI from the sources shown. AI can make mistakes — check the sources before relying on it.

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