The district administration department (KVR) prevents an announced pro-Palestinian demonstration by the radical network “Samidoun” in Munich. They had planned a car parade on Saturday afternoon, but according to the authorities, it was not officially reported as a demonstration. That’s why the KVR passed the ban on Friday evening a general decree. This approach was justified with “significant dangers to public road traffic”. This assessment was arrived at in “close coordination” with the police.
The federal government is currently examining a ban on “Samidoun”, the KVR statement continued. The network has repeatedly been associated with “meetings throughout Germany” that have taken “unpeaceful turns.” In this point, the unregistered motorcade differs from the demonstrations in Munich, which the city failed to ban in court on Thursday.
As required by the courts, the KVR decided on Friday in each individual case whether public safety was at risk. The KVR will therefore have to approve demonstrations similar to those on Thursday in the future, the authority said. In order to protect public safety, the KVR wants to impose requirements. Calls for violence and celebrations of the attack on Israel will continue to be prohibited at lawful gatherings.
On Friday morning, several imams, including Benjamin Idriz from the Munich Forum for Islam, met with Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) in the town hall. 13 Muslim clerics had previously called for the meeting in an open letter because they feared an escalation on the streets of Munich. There had been some disagreements leading up to the conversation. The imams had accused the mayor of a lack of willingness to talk.
Before the meeting took place and Reiter was asked at a press conference on youth violence on Friday morning how he dealt with foreign crime, the mayor replied: He saw his job as mediating. That’s why he talks to the imams, and then literally: “Despite a mediocrely friendly invitation.” His reluctance could also have been due to the fact that some of the imams who signed the letter were said to be close to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is sometimes classified as an Islamist organization.
Clear sign in the form of a peace prayer or vigil
Apparently the round of discussions seemed to have taken place in a constructive atmosphere. Reiter: “It was a good conversation under difficult conditions against the background of the war in the Middle East. I would like to thank the imams for their willingness to call for de-escalation in the interests of Munich’s urban society.” There was agreement in condemning Hamas’ terror and in mourning for all civilian victims of this war. “That’s why the imams have suggested sending a clear signal in the form of a peace prayer or a vigil.” Reiter promised to support this.
In their Friday sermons in the mosques, the Munich imams wanted to call for people not to take part in the announced motorcade. Idriz said in his sermon: “A number of rallies have been announced in the next few days, sometimes without announcing who is behind them. We appeal to remain level-headed and find other ways to express our displeasure. With outcry and derogatory rhetoric, we are creating one further gap.” His parishioners should also “not lose sight of the fact that there is pain on both sides. Let us not compete over whose pain seems greater or more justified, but rather comfort one another and stand up for peace.”
On Thursday evening, the Bavarian Administrative Court overturned the city of Munich’s ban on gatherings for an event entitled “Human rights and international law also for Palestine”. In the ruling, the 10th Senate refers to the legal weight of freedom of assembly. The city of Munich justified the meeting with a forecast of danger and referred to riots in other cities, especially in Berlin. The administrative court ruled that the city’s argument that the topic of the meeting could lead to “strong emotionalization on all sides” did not justify a ban on meetings. The rally, which was approved at such short notice, then took place on Thursday evening with around 60 participants on Odeonsplatz without incident.
European rabbis warn of threat to Jewish communities
The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office had the apartment of a man of Arab origin searched on Friday. He is associated with an Instagram account that described Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel as an “act of resistance.” The claim was made on a freely accessible Instagram account. The reason given was that this constituted condoning crimes. The man belongs to a pro-Palestinian association for which he had registered for a demonstration on Marienplatz on October 9th.
Europe’s rabbis are warning of a strengthening of the extreme right if states do not react forcefully to pro-Palestine demonstrations and possible riots. This is “not only a threat to the Jewish community in Europe, but to the continued existence of European democracy itself,” said the President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, on Friday. The CER headquarters was only moved from London to Munich in September.