Several hundred people gathered in Berlin for a controversial “Palestine Congress” The congress, whose exact location the organizers kept secret for a long time and only announced on Friday, sparked protests. A non-partisan “alliance against anti-Semitic terror” declared that glorification of terror and calls for the destruction of Israel were to be expected.
Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner called it “unbearable” that such a congress was taking place in the capital. The Berlin police viewed the congress as a public meeting and issued so-called conditions, i.e. bans. The burning of flags, calls for violence against Israel and symbols of terrorist organizations were prohibited. The police also ensured that media were given free access to the meeting, whose number of participants was limited to 250 per day. The organizers initially only wanted to allow selected media representatives in. Admission to the hall was slow in the early afternoon, so the event could not start at 2 p.m. as planned. Chants such as “Viva, Viva Palestine” or “Germany finances, Israel bombs” could be heard.