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Berlin police officers on the sidelines of a rally in solidarity with Palestine
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JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP
In the wake of Hamas' attack on Israel and Jerusalem's subsequent retaliation in the Gaza Strip, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents have erupted throughout Germany – despite the ban on pro-Palestinian gatherings. Not least because the terrorist militia Hamas has called for worldwide protests against Israel.
Stolen flags, flags set on fire
On Friday night, unknown persons set fire to an Israeli flag at the town hall in Berlin-Reinickendorf. A burn hole remained, as the district office announced in the afternoon. "This desecration is an attempt to disrupt our remembrance and solidarity with the Israeli people," said district mayor Emine Demirbüken-Wegner, according to the statement. "Our sympathy for the people who have been attacked, brutally murdered or still kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and our condolences for their families is unwavering." She appealed to Berlin's urban society to enter into dialogue with each other.
According to the information, unknown perpetrators had already torn down an Israeli flag on Wednesday at the Red City Hall, the seat of the Governing Mayor. The perpetrators could have fled. In both cases, the District Office and the Senate Chancellery filed complaints.
Israeli flags have also been stolen in Ludwigshafen. These were attached at the exit of the Konrad Adenauer Bridge and at the town hall square, the police said on Friday. They were stolen at an unknown time between Wednesday morning and Thursday noon. On Thursday morning, an Israeli flag was torn from a flagpole in front of the Große Bleiche town hall in Mainz and set on fire.
Arrests at demonstrations
There have also been repeated arrests at pro-Palestinian demonstrations. According to a police spokeswoman, about 100 to 150 people gathered on Sonnenallee in Berlin-Neukölln on Friday. According to a reporter from the dpa news agency, some of them were carrying Palestinian flags or symbols. The atmosphere was heated. Pyrotechnics were ignited and there was a bottle thrown, the spokeswoman said. There were three arrests. They were not the first in Berlin. On Wednesday alone, police said they arrested more than 140 people at pro-Palestinian rallies.
The pro-Palestinian network Samidoun shared a video on Friday showing people waving Palestinian flags. After the terrorist attack on Israel by the Palestinian organization Hamas last weekend, which left many dead, representatives of Samidoun celebrated the attack by distributing sweets.
According to police, up to 400 emergency personnel were on the road on Friday to prevent such gatherings. The authority had announced an increased presence on the streets in the next few days, especially in Neukölln, Wedding and the government district.
Pro-Palestinian gatherings have already been banned in Berlin as well as in other cities such as Hamburg, Munich, Mannheim and Regensburg. The Berlin police justified this, among other things, with expected "inciting, anti-Semitic exclamations".
Munich refers to a concrete danger to public safety in its ban. At several solidarity rallies for Israel in Bavaria in recent days, participants have also been attacked with hostility and Israeli flags have been damaged, for example.
In Augsburg, the administration does not want to issue a general ban, but refers to strict conditions in case of doubt. Augsburg has a large Jewish community and stands firmly by the side of this community, a spokesman said. "Against everything that disturbs this peace, we have a very low threshold for intervention, especially against the background of current events in the world."
Protection of Jewish institutions was strengthened
In view of pro-Palestinian gatherings in Germany, Bavaria's Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich (CSU) called on the federal government to make expressions of sympathy for terrorist groups a criminal offence again. It is unacceptable that terrorist groups and their supporters can advertise their goals with impunity on streets and squares, Eisenreich said on Friday. Hamas is a terrorist organization that wants to destroy Israel. "Those who cheer the Hamas attacks are making an intolerable mockery of the victims of the cowardly attacks."
The protection of Jewish institutions in Germany has been strengthened once again in the face of fears of protests and acts of violence. The federal government assumes an "increased risk situation" and takes this "very seriously," said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The protection of Jewish institutions has already been strengthened – this has "the highest priority," said a spokesman for Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser.
In the wake of the terrorist attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli army airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist Hamas has called on "Arab and Muslim nations and the free people of the world" to hold mass protests. It is about supporting the Palestinian people "in the face of the open war of the (Israeli) occupation." People around the world are called upon to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people. Hamas has declared Friday a "day of rage."
col/svs/dpa