On Wednesday evening, the Berlin police were once again called out to a registered demonstration from the pro-Palestinian spectrum. The protest was under the slogan “We charge you with genocide, stop the massacre in Rafah” and started shortly after 6 p.m. at Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg. According to police reports, 4,500 people were there at the peak. The organizers had previously registered a thousand participants with the police.
© Julius Geiler
At around 7:20 p.m. the demonstration finally got underway. The route went south via Kottbusser Tor to Neukölln, ending at Hermannplatz.
A group in the middle repeatedly shouted “Yallah, Yallah intifada” and the forbidden slogan “From the river to the sea”. Other anti-Israel slogans were also shouted, as was the anti-Semitic phrase “Israel, murderer of children”.
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Signs reading “Berlin shall burn” and “Fuck you Germany” were also visible. There were isolated scuffles with the police.
The mood was heated. “All of Berlin hates the police” was heard when the police arrested a participant in the demonstration. Stones and bottles were thrown in the direction of the officers in isolated cases. A number of police officers were injured, the police situation service said late in the evening. There were isolated arrests. The authorities will announce an exact number on Thursday. Pyrotechnics were also set off in isolated cases late in the evening.
As a precaution, the police cordoned off Sonnenallee, where riots have repeatedly occurred during previous anti-Israel protests. Water cannons were also on standby. 420 police officers were on site that evening.
Mobilization from many sides
A comparatively large-scale mobilization was evident in the run-up to the demonstration, particularly on social networks. Groups from the classic left-wing radical spectrum in Berlin also called for the demonstration, including the “Interventionist Left”the ones from defense of Constitution is observed.
At the same time, various actors from the capital’s pro-Palestinian scene called for the demonstration, including the “Student Coalition Berlin,” which was also involved in the two-day occupation of Humboldt University.
In recent weeks, there have been repeated riots in the dark between Palestine demonstrators and the police on Sonnenallee in Neukölln. Most recently, late on Tuesday evening, officers were pelted with bottles from the crowd. The demonstrators, in turn, criticize the police for excessive police violence.