BERLIN, 21 May. (DPA/EP) –
About a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered this Saturday in Berlin, Germany, despite the police ban on the demonstration.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have been joined by a demonstration organized by a group of Jews and Israelis who have objected to this decision and have wanted to show their solidarity by defending that Palestinians also deserve the right to memory.
“Repressive policies of this type do not protect us (…) Demanding equality is not anti-Semitic, exploiting Jews for racism and authoritarian politics is!” they wrote in a statement.
Police in Berlin have reported that protesters have made alleged anti-Semitic statements at the protest, so officers have sent recordings of chants in foreign languages to interpreters for review.
A police spokeswoman has said officers ordered some of the participants to leave the area and issued citations, mainly because members of the Jewish Forum were harassed.
The managing director of the German Union of Journalists (DJU for its acronym in German), Jörg Reichel, has published on his Twitter account that at least four representatives of the press were harassed and attacked by the participants of the demonstration and has criticized the Police for not acting. The situation seems to have calmed down, according to a police spokesman.
The demonstration was intended to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes and communities after the 1948 war that led to the founding of the State of Israel.
Police banned the event because they said there was a danger that it could lead to “anti-Semitic incitement of people, the glorification of violence, the transmission of the will to use violence and thus intimidation and violence.” “.
The Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court upheld the ban and sided with the police, citing similar recent events in its ruling on Saturday.
Up to 1,000 participants registered for the event, billed as a “demonstration for the fundamental right to freedom of assembly and expression on the 75th anniversary of the Nakba” in the Neukölln district of Berlin.
