After the weekend demonstrations in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Essen, the Central Council of Jews in Germany is calling for more decisive action against anti-Semitism. “Today’s anti-Semitic, often openly Islamist marches on German streets show: The Samidoun ban was important, but now the other Islamist organizations must be stopped,” says a post on X (formerly Twitter) published on Saturday evening. : “No misunderstood tolerance with Islamists!”
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany condemned anti-Semitic incidents at pro-Palestinian demonstrations and called for caution when taking part in rallies. There are “very clear violations, anti-Semitic violations of hatred of Jews,” said Central Council Chairman Aiman Mazyek on Deutschlandfunk on Saturday. “They must be punished.” He appealed to Muslims: “Be careful where you follow.” There are groups that use such demonstrations to chant slogans against Jews and anti-Semitism. “We don’t have to have it like that.”
Thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin and Düsseldorf on Saturday and in Essen on Friday to demonstrate for peace in Gaza. According to police figures, 17,000 people took to the streets in Düsseldorf and around half as many in Berlin. Openly anti-Israel posters could also be seen. At the beginning of the march in Essen, the 3,000 participants were asked over loudspeakers to separate men and women. So it happened that most of the female demonstrators marched through the city behind the male participants. They repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) and held up signs calling for the unity of all Muslim believers and the establishment of a caliphate in Germany. Individual demonstrators stuck their right index fingers in the air; This gesture is also considered a symbol of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”. The design of several black and white banners and flags also resembled depictions of IS.
For NRW Interior Minister Reul, the demos have reached “a new quality”.
The police reported from several cities that there were criminal charges on suspicion of incitement and relativizing the Holocaust. In Berlin alone, the police said they initiated 30 investigations. Politicians from the federal and state governments also reacted with shock to some of the side effects of the demonstrations and called for a consistent response from the state. “Frankly, I am horrified,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). Picture on Sunday. Only recently he turned to the state justice ministers and indirectly to the state interior ministers and suggested decisive and decisive police tactics: “The goal must be to establish the identities of suspects and secure evidence so that criminal proceedings can quickly take place.”
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul sees the demonstrations as having achieved “a new quality”: “Such clear advertising for Islamist goals on the street has not previously been observed in North Rhine-Westphalia.” Anyone who proclaims a caliphate state on the streets has not understood the basic democratic order: “We will carefully review the requirements for this and, if necessary, make them even narrower. And above all, we will call on the federal government to legally examine bans on other Islamist associations that are relevant here let.” CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt spoke of dangerous developments in the middle of Germany. There needs to be a tightening of criminal law with minimum prison sentences up to passport revocation and deportation.
The Mayor of Essen, Thomas Kufen, regretted that “Islamists, anti-democrats and Jew-haters” were allowed to parade through Essen protected by the freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Basic Law: “That is difficult to bear.” The Essen police announced that they would subsequently analyze the Friday demonstration and examine its “criminal relevance”. It turned out that the motive for a pro-Palestine meeting was only a pretext. Instead, the organizers held a religious event. The police union (GdP) meanwhile called for stricter action by the assembly authorities against Palestine protests in Germany. “In view of the enormous wear and tear of our police forces, there should be no large elevators, only small, stationary rallies,” said GdP leader Jochen Kopelke to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”.
In London and other British cities, tens of thousands also took to the streets in several cities demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. There was a large demonstration in the US capital Washington. Organizers spoke of the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in the history of the United States, with 300,000 people taking part.