Organizers of a “Palestine Congress” in Berlin are accusing Israel and Germany. This causes contradiction. The police launch a major operation.
Berlin - Accompanied by a massive police presence, several hundred people gathered in Berlin on Friday for a controversial “Palestine Congress”. Various pro-Palestinian groups and initiatives have invited people to the three-day international meeting under the motto “We accuse”. These include, above all, those which, according to security authorities and Berlin's internal administration, belong to the anti-Israel "boycott spectrum".
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. The alliance includes, among others, politicians and the Central Council of Jews, which warned a few days ago against a “show of anti-Zionism”.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) expects the authorities to keep a watchful eye: “Anyone who spreads Islamist propaganda and hatred against Jews must know that this will be pursued quickly and consistently,” she told the German Press Agency. Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) called it “unbearable” that such a congress was taking place in the capital.
“We do not tolerate anti-Semitism, hatred and agitation against Jews in Berlin. “That’s why the Berlin police will take strict action if anti-Semitic statements or crimes occur at this meeting,” he announced. “I would like to thank the Berlin police officers for their commitment to ensuring law and order in our city - and protecting and defending our values.”
The Berlin police prepared for a major operation lasting several days. According to a spokeswoman, around 900 emergency services were planned for Friday and the same number should be on Saturday. The police are initially planning to have around 700 police officers on Sunday. Support came from North Rhine-Westphalia. The location of the event, a hall on Germaniastrasse in the Tempelhof district, was also unknown to the police for a long time. Officials began setting up barriers there early in the afternoon.
The Berlin police viewed the congress as a public meeting and, similar to demonstrations, issued so-called conditions, i.e. bans. The burning of flags, calls for violence against Israel and symbols of terrorist organizations were prohibited.
Police officers and interpreters were also present in the rooms after the start of the congress to follow the events and speeches there. The police also ensured that media was given free access to the meeting. The organizers initially only wanted to allow selected media representatives in. The number of participants at the congress was limited by the police to 250 per day for fire safety reasons.
Admission to the hall was slow, so the event started late in the afternoon. Palestine flags were waved in the crowd in front of the building. According to observations by dpa reporters, the mood was heated. Chants such as “Viva, Viva Palestine” or “Germany finances, Israel bombs” could be heard. According to the police, apart from minor friction in front of the hall, there were initially no special incidents.
The organizers only announced the conference location in the morning at a press conference in the Wedding district and on the congress website. In the announcement for the congress and in the press conference, they accused Israel of, among other things, “apartheid,” “colonialism,” and “genocide” in the Gaza Strip. Germany bears “complicity” because it supplies weapons to Israel.
The unprecedented massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel on October 7th last year was not mentioned at all in the call and was only mentioned in the press conference after repeated requests from journalists. Israel responded to the attack with a large-scale attack on the Gaza Strip. The war has been going on for six months now and thousands of civilians have died.
At the organizers' press conference in a small room of the "Internationalist Office" in Wedding, the mood was partly charged among the journalists, with some criticizing each other. The organizers initially hung the Palestinian flag incorrectly, but corrected their mistake before reading out statements.
Outside the press conference site, demonstrators protested against Congress and demanded the release of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. The Berlin CDU parliamentary group wanted to drive through the city in a video van all day to mobilize against anti-Semitism.
“It is important to show the flag,” said CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner. The Berlin SPD domestic politician Martin Matz expressed fears that criminal calls for violence could come from the congress. “It is not about legitimate mourning, about victims of war or about an exchange about a future for Palestine for all people living there,” he said. dpa