Roger Waters, former member of Pink Floyd, accused of anti-Semitism
Accused of anti-Semitism, the singer who does not hesitate to resort to provocations, now faces legal proceedings after the concert given in Berlin, Germany, last week.
Roger Waters in Los Angeles, September 2022. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP - Chris Pizzello
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With our correspondent in Berlin, Nathalie Versieux
These are equivocal scenes, to say the least. Representatives of Germany's Jewish community, who have seized the police, even see it as evidence of primary anti-Semitism. During his concert in Berlin last week, Roger Waters used a lot of dubious symbols on stage: wearing a costume resembling Nazi uniforms, a red armband on his arm, the singer even pointed a dummy gun at the audience.
An allusion, according to the artist, to the film The Wall inspired by the album of the same name by Pink Floyd. Later, the décor gives way to giant red letters, listing the names of Anne Frank and Shireen Abu Akleh. The first was murdered by the Nazis, the second died under Israeli bullets. A shameful parallel for the Israeli authorities and Jewish associations in Germany.
Roger Waters is known for his commitment to the campaign to boycott Israeli BDS products, deemed anti-Semitic by the German government. And by the Jewish associations of Germany. They had tried to take legal action to ban the artist's concert next week in Frankfurt. The court had finally ruled in favor of Waters, in the name of freedom of speech. Frankfurt's Jewish community and the Greens are calling for a demonstration on Sunday, May 28 against the concert.
>> Read also: Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd: freedom of expression at the foot of the wall
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- Germany
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- United Kingdom
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Human rights