After pro-Palestinian demonstrations with thousands of participants this weekend, the police are investigating various cases on suspicion of sedition. At a rally in Essen on Friday evening, banners were shown, among other things, calling for the establishment of an Islamist caliphate.
In Berlin, the police counted 9,000 participants at a rally. Officials there made dozens of advertisements, but spoke of the demo being “mostly peaceful”. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) condemned anti-Semitism and called for moral courage to protect Jews in Germany.
In addition to pro-Palestinian flags and symbols, those similar to the banned symbols and signs of the Islamic State and the Taliban were also shown in Essen, the police said. According to NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul, the public prosecutor’s office is examining a video recorded at the Essen rally on suspicion of incitement to hatred. The CDU politician said this on WDR television.
Police: Possibly a pretext for the gathering in Essen
During the procession it became clear that the stated reason for the meeting may have only been an excuse to hold an “Islamic religious gathering” on Essen’s streets, the police explained. The stewards made strict gender separation.
Women and children would have had to walk at the end of the elevator and stand in a different place than the men during the final rally. Instead of the announced 1,500 demonstrators, around 3,000 came.
68 arrests in Berlin
In Berlin, the police said they initiated 36 investigations. There are, among other things, suspicions of incitement to hatred, condoning crimes and bodily harm, the police said in an assessment of the rally on Saturday afternoon. The officers counted 68 arrests.
Palestine flags and posters with slogans such as “From the river to the sea – we demand equality” could be seen in the capital. Translated: From the river to the sea – we demand equality. This refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. A speaker called for an end to the “apartheid culture” and a stop to Israeli bombings in the sealed-off Gaza Strip.
Two demonstrators carried a banner reading “Hands off Samidoun! Down with the ban on all Palestinian organizations!”. Samidoun caused outrage after the bloodbath in Israel on October 7th because, shortly afterwards, members of the network distributed sweets on Sonnenallee in Berlin’s Neukölln district as an expression of joy. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) banned the network on Thursday.
Several pro-Palestinian groups called for the demonstration. “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.
In Düsseldorf on Saturday, around 17,000 people took to the streets in a pro-Palestinian demonstration. The police seized several posters that put the Holocaust into perspective. That’s why there will be criminal proceedings, it was said.
Strict requirements for demos
The Berlin demonstration took place under strict conditions. Operations leader Stephan Katte had 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,” said Katte. In Düsseldorf, too, the police had announced low-threshold and consistent intervention in the event of crimes.
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany condemned anti-Semitic incidents at pro-Palestinian demonstrations and called for caution when taking part in rallies. There are “very clear violations, anti-Semitic violations of hatred of Jews,” said Central Council Chairman Aiman Mazyek on Deutschlandfunk.
“They must be punished.” He appealed to Muslims: “Be careful where you follow.” There are groups that use such demonstrations to chant slogans against Jews and anti-Semitism. “We don’t have to have it like that.”
Scholz: Fight anti-Semitism “without any quarter”.
Chancellor Scholz urged people in Germany to “protect Jews.” This is a question of moral courage, he told “Mannheimer Morgen”. “Anyone who attacks Jews in Germany is attacking all of us,” he emphasized.
“We will not accept anti-Semitism. We have crystal clear laws: It is a criminal offense to burn Israeli flags. It is a criminal offense to celebrate the death of innocent people. It is a criminal offense to shout anti-Semitic slogans,” said Scholz.
The law enforcement authorities have a duty to punish such violations. The necessary instruments are available and the police and courts know what to do. “We have to fight anti-Semitism – without any quarter,” said Scholz.
Call for stricter requirements
NRW Interior Minister Reul announced that he would review the requirements for rallies. Anyone who proclaimed a caliphate state on the streets did not understand the basic democratic order in Germany, the CDU politician told “Bild am Sonntag”.
The police union also called for stricter action. “The assembly authorities must act even more restrictively with regard to the demonstrations registered as pro-Palestinian,” said GdP leader Jochen Kopelke to the Editorial Network Germany (RND).
On October 7, Islamists from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and other terrorists carried out massacres 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.
Merz calls for a stop to the reform of citizenship law
In view of the tensions resulting from the Gaza war, CDU leader Friedrich Merz has now called on the traffic light coalition to stop its planned reform of citizenship law. The possibility of naturalization after just three years instead of the previous at least five years is “absurd” given the current situation, said Merz in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”.
Regarding proposals to make a written commitment to Israel’s right to exist a prerequisite for naturalization, Merz further said that one could not prevent this from ultimately only being signed as a formality. Merz called on the federal government to stop the reform – also in view of recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which also included anti-Semitic statements. “If we act like this when it comes to citizenship law, then we shouldn’t be surprised about further demonstrations of this kind,” he said.
