Munich is now banning pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Dieter Reiter announced this at a memorial event for Israel on Jakobsplatz. “We will no longer tolerate celebrating the terrorist attacks,” said Munich’s mayor. He also said: After the city’s decision, the courts would have the final say.
Bavaria’s anti-Semitism commissioner Ludwig Spaenle (CSU) and the President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, had also previously called for a ban on the “protest march” announced for Friday by the “Palestine Speaks” group in Munich. “I call on the responsible authorities to exhaust all legal options to ban the demonstration,” said Spaenle in a press statement. Goldschmidt wrote in an open letter to Reiter: “To offer a public platform to such organizations and supporters who glorify and support terror and thus want to wipe out the state of Israel and its population would be an affront to the Jewish population living here and with one high dangerous potential for violence.”
The group has planned a march through downtown Munich that begins and ends at Odeonsplatz. The exact route had not yet been determined. The call on Instagram was illustrated with a fist in Palestinian colors violently breaking chains in Israeli colors.
Chants of “Allahu Akbar!” in front of the town hall illuminated in Israeli colors
There was an anti-Jewish attack on a passer-by at a group rally on Monday evening. At the meeting, terrorist attacks were also downplayed as “resistance” and Israel’s right to exist was disputed. When asked about the Hamas terror, the group’s Munich branch wrote on its Instagram account: “The Palestinians have the right to defend themselves.” Such statements may, under certain circumstances, constitute endorsement of crimes, which can be punished with up to three years in prison.
“Palestine Speaks” is close to the BDS movement, which the city council has classified as anti-Semitic, and recently – alongside two other Munich organizations – also supported a call launched by the pro-Palestinian network “Samidoun”. The federal government announced a ban on Samidoun on Thursday. According to observers, Turkish ultranationalists also took part in the meeting on Monday. Chants of “Allahu Akbar!” were heard again and again in front of the Munich town hall, which was illuminated in Israeli colors.
In addition to the demonstration on Friday, another pro-Palestinian rally with 250 participants was announced for Saturday. A KVR spokeswoman said about Monday’s meeting: “If criminal consequences arise subsequently, the KVR will of course take this into account for future similar meetings. Restrictions are then generally possible – as long as they are legally permissible, necessary and proportionate.” Mayor Dieter Reiter has now announced the city’s decision to hold pro-Palestinian demonstrations.