Essen: Participants in an anti-Israel demo wave Islamist banners

Around 3,000 people took part in a large demonstration in Essen about the Gaza war, during which numerous Islamist banners were displayed. What was visible at the protest on Friday evening were open demands for the establishment of a caliphate. When asked on Saturday morning, the police said they had not become aware of any crimes. A spokeswoman said that received information such as images would now be examined for their criminal relevance.

According to the police, the demonstration was registered by a private individual. The spokeswoman was initially unable to confirm media reports that an Islamist organization was behind the rally.

Essen: Demonstration under strict conditions and a heavy police presence

A police spokesman said on Friday evening that the demonstration was “very loud and very emotional, but peaceful”. The police had issued a number of conditions in advance and announced that they would take consistent action if things went unpeaceful. The demonstration was accompanied by a heavy police presence. Among other things, state security officials also ran along to identify banned slogans and symbols, reported on Friday. But they “didn’t find any banned symbols,” a police spokesman told the newspaper.

A pro-Palestinian rally followed by a demonstration also took place in Frankfurt am Main on Friday. Up to 850 participants marched in the city center from Rathausplatz to Kaisersack and called for a “ceasefire in Gaza,” as the Frankfurt am Main police headquarters announced. Nine people were temporarily arrested. Among other things, investigations were initiated on suspicion of incitement to hatred, the use of unconstitutional license plates and suspicion of depicting violence, as the police announced in the evening.

Anti-Israel posters at a demonstration in Frankfurt am Main

The police were present throughout the city center early on in order to protect the registered meeting and ensure that it ran smoothly, it was said. The officers documented violations of the restriction order and criminal offenses by individual participants.

A woman was reportedly holding a poster depicting the Israeli flag in a trash can with the words “Keep the world clean.” The sign was confiscated and the woman has to answer on suspicion of sedition.

There will be a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin this Saturday under strict conditions. According to the police, any statements that are anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and that glorify violence or terror are prohibited. Operations manager Stephan Katte emphasized in advance that anyone who denies Israel’s right to exist is committing a crime that will be punished immediately. “Repeated commission of such crimes can lead to the dissolution of a meeting very early on,” Klatte told the German Press Agency.

2000 people expected at pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin

Several pro-Palestinian groups have called for the protest march. “Many from the left-wing political spectrum who have already called for the ‘revolutionary May 1st demonstration’ this year also mobilized,” according to the police. According to the police, the organizers said around 2,000 participants were expected. The police assume a “five-digit number”. Individual “violent people or small groups” are to be expected. However, the police assume that participants generally “aim for peaceful meetings”.

On October 7, Islamists from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and other terrorists carried out a massacre of civilians in Israel. Since then, Israel’s army has been using air strikes and ground troops against targets in the sealed-off coastal area.