Berlin: Thousands demonstrate on Palestinian Nakba Memorial Day

Thousands of people gathered in Berlin again to mark the Palestinian Nakba day of remembrance. The police spoke of around 6,200 demonstrators on Saturday evening. However, the number of participants fluctuated because people came but others left the meeting, it was said. Around 2,000 participants were expected.

The police repeatedly took action against demonstrators. There were occasional firecrackers thrown and pyrotechnics were ignited, said a police spokeswoman. The protest march was stopped several times because of this. Because, according to the police, forbidden slogans were shouted from the loudspeaker van at the front, the vehicle was no longer allowed to travel.

After consulting with the meeting leader, the police allowed the procession to continue running. She previously called on the participants to behave prudently. Under the title “Palestine will be free” (Palestine will be free), the participants ran from Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg towards the Red Town Hall.

Around 500 police officers on duty

According to their own information, the police had around 500 emergency services on site. A spokeswoman said that some participants were arrested to determine their identity. According to them, some firecrackers were thrown towards police officers. The organizers asked the participants to refrain from such actions, as a dpa reporter reported. To make it more difficult to document incidents, banners were tied up and umbrellas were put up, the police said.

Many demonstrators carried Palestinian flags, others held up umbrellas shaped like watermelons. Their colors – red pulp, green-white peel and black seeds – can also be found on the Palestinian flag. Signs and banners read, among other things, “Stop the genocide in Gaza” and “Stop occupation terror!” Among the chants were “Free Palestine, Free Gaza.”

Police issue conditions

As usual, the police had issued some conditions for the demonstration. For example, calls for acts of violence or defamatory slogans were prohibited. Statements that propagate the destruction of the State of Israel, as well as flags and signs of terrorist organizations such as the Islamist Hamas or the Samidoun organization, for which a ban on activity in Germany was imposed after the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, were also prohibited.

Calls for the protest in German, English and Arabic on various internet portals said: “On this Nakba Day, no ban, no persecution, no repression can stop us from demanding justice and liberation. We are not free until Palestine is free is.” Nakba Remembrance Day on May 15th commemorates the flight and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the first Middle East war in 1948 after the founding of the state of Israel.

Tumults after demonstration on Wednesday

Last Wednesday evening, around 600 people demonstrated peacefully in Charlottenburg on the occasion of Nakba Remembrance Day. Afterwards, however, there was tumult in Neukölln. According to the police, around 200 demonstrators gathered there. Some of them set trash cans on fire, and fireworks and Bengal fires were also lit. People repeatedly threw objects such as bicycles and garbage cans onto the streets in various places.

Since the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, there have been weekly demonstrations in Berlin. According to its own information, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office has so far had around 1,040 cases (as of May 17) in the context of the Gaza war. Of these, around 210 cases involve crimes committed during demonstrations on the Middle East conflict, as an authority spokeswoman said upon request. This often involves incitement to hatred, property damage, insults or the use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations.