On Saturday, Berlin held one of the most massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
German police reported they expected about 2,000 people, but the result was more than 6,000 people gathered in Berlin on Saturday to show their support for the Palestinians and to mark Nakba Day earlier this week. 500 officers were deployed to maintain security.
On several occasions, police were forced to stop the rally after some people threw firecrackers in the direction of officers and set off fireworks. Organisers urged participants to refrain from such actions when they spotted reporters.
Participants wanted to march from the Kreuzberg neighbourhood to the Rotes Rathaus city hall on Alexanderplatz in a rally held under the slogan “Palestine will be free.”
Many demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, while others held umbrellas shaped like watermelons, a symbol of support for Palestine, whose flag has the same colours: red, green, white and black. Some people carried signs saying “Stop the genocide in Gaza” and “Stop the terror of occupation!” Others shouted “Free Palestine, Free Gaza.”
The authorities also imposed a number of conditions to allow the demonstration, including a ban on calls for acts of violence or defamatory slogans. The following statements were also banned: those advocating the destruction of the state of Israel, flags and symbols of terrorist organisations such as the Palestinian Islamist Hamas or the Samidoun Network for Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners.
Berlin, home to a large Israeli and Muslim population, has seen weekly protests since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October last year. As of 17 May, 1,040 cases had been filed related to the war in the Gaza Strip. Tensions are heightened especially because the Israeli-Hamas war has left over 35,000 Palestinians dead and 79,000 injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, which includes the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 and the permanent displacement of the majority of the Palestinian people. Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day on 15 May each year.
