After a controversial appearance
Police dissolve “Palestine Congress” in Berlin
April 12, 2024, 6:06 p.m
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Shortly after its opening at 3 p.m., the Berlin police cut off the broadcast of the controversial “Palestine Congress.” The electricity is temporarily switched off and the meeting is eventually dissolved. Berlin’s governing mayor Wegner had previously announced the tough approach.
The Berlin police broke up the controversial “Palestine Congress” in Berlin around two hours after it began. An official announced this to up to 250 congress participants early in the evening and asked them to leave the hall. The officials had previously temporarily interrupted the event. It was said that the reason was a speech broadcast via video by a man who is banned from political activity in Germany.
According to “Tagesspiegel”, this is 86-year-old Salman Abu Sitta, a pro-Palestinian activist who reportedly said after the terrorist attack on Israel in October that he was one of those who broke through the fence on October 7th – if he had been younger.
Sitta was denied travel to the congress at short notice. He should give his lecture via video transmission. When the man then spoke to the up to 250 congress participants, the police intervened with several officers, cut off the transmission and temporarily switched off the power. The participants in the meeting reacted to this and to the official dissolution of the meeting with loud expressions of dissatisfaction.
Before the “congress” began, Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner sharply criticized the event and announced that the police would take consistent action in the event of anti-Semitic statements. “It is unbearable that a so-called Palestine Congress will take place in Berlin,” said the CDU politician. “We do not tolerate anti-Semitism, hatred and agitation against Jews in Berlin. That is why the Berlin police will take consistent action if anti-Semitic statements or crimes occur at this meeting,” said Wegner.
Various pro-Palestinian groups and initiatives invited people to the three-day international meeting under the motto “We accuse”. These include, above all, those which, according to the assessment of security authorities and Berlin’s internal administration, belong to the anti-Israel “boycott spectrum”.