Protest on the anniversary of October 7, 2023: Greta Thunberg at the inflammatory demonstration

Demonstrators, including Greta Thunberg, glorify the terror of the Hamas massacre as a form of resistance. The victims are remembered elsewhere.

Tumult at the anti-Israel protest: Climate activist Greta Thunberg was also there in Berlin Photo: Jean-Philipp Baeck/taz

Berlin taz | The demonstration ends as feared: scuffles with the police, arrests, bottles being thrown and injuries. Around 400 people gathered at the Südstern in Berlin on Monday evening to officially demonstrate in “Solidarity with Palestine”. The demo, which took place on the first anniversary of the Hamas massacres in Israel, was advertised under the motto: “Glory to the resistance”.

The most prominent participant was the icon of the climate movement Greta Thunberg. With a Pali scarf, black jacket and Corona face mask, she could hardly be distinguished from the other demonstrators. Individuals asked her for selfies. She didn’t give a speech.

Right from the start, the participants left no doubt about the character of the demonstration. Signs said that “German guilt” was destroying the Middle East, while others declared Zionism to be the dream of the Nazis. “Intifada” chants called for violence for a Palestine that was Arab. The slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was echoed across the square several times right at the beginning. Hamas, among others, uses this saying in its policy paper from 2017; it is banned in Berlin. Even after repeated announcements from the police not to do this, the participants repeated the saying.

At 5:50 p.m., almost an hour after it began, a helmeted squad of police officers marched into the rally and dragged people out. According to a police spokesman, temporary arrests were made to establish identity. From this point on the mood became more aggressive. The police cordoned off the area and glass bottles were thrown at the officers several times. Later, a few Bengal torches shone. The police went robustly into the crowd. Several people were injured.

Attack on journalists

Press representatives were sometimes massively prevented from working by protesters. Several camera teams were only able to report under the protection of security people. Stern TV reporter Nadja Pia Wagner reported that she and her camera team were attacked. “We were doused with water, insulted and kicked,” she told the taz.

The location of the demonstration was only moved from Hermannplatz in Neukölln to Südstern on Monday, at the behest of the assembly authorities. According to a police spokesman, this was a measure to avert danger; crimes have repeatedly occurred at Hermannplatz in the past.

The Trotskyist group “Workers’ Power” as well as the “Communist Organization”, “Alliance of Internationalist Feminists”, “Palestine Speaks” and the “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East”, among others, called for the demonstration.

A board member of the Jewish Voice did not want to comment on the question of whether the motto “Glory to the resistance” on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre was glorifying terror. The person who registered the demonstration also did not want to speak to the taz. “Leave our people alone,” said a companion.

Commemoration in Kreuzberg

Thomas Wieskirchen from the Green Youth Neukölln, on the other hand, gave the taz information. With almost a dozen others he stood on a street corner opposite at a counter-rally that the Green Youth, the Jusos and the Falken had organized together. “We think that October 7th should be a day of remembrance for the victims of Hamas and not a day to glorify this violence,” Wieskirchen told taz. “It is a decades-long conflict with suffering on both sides, but there will be no peace unless terrorist violence is identified as such.”

Numerous people also opposed the hatred of Israel elsewhere in Berlin, for example at a rally in Kreuzberg. At the start, atmospheric sounds that an ambient band had composed in memory of the Israeli hostages in Gaza echoed across Mariannenplatz. The gathering was organized by “Feminism Unlimited” and saw itself as a feminist and anti-fascist rally against Islamist terror on October 7, 2023. “For life, against death” – that was the motto, alluding to Hamas’ battle cry. she loves death as her enemies love life.

The slogan “Free Palestine” had previously been sprayed with red triangles on the steps in front of Bethany – a symbol of Hamas. By the time the rally began, “from Hamas” had long since been added to the lettering and the triangles had been painted over. The mood was mournful and depressed. At the climax, it is estimated that almost 2,000 people were present. One sign read “Homos against Hamas” and another read: “Rape is not resistance.” A few participants brought Antifa flags with them, and the Falken and the VVN are also there.

Rosa Jellinek from the queer Jewish organization Keshet said on stage: “I am deeply shocked and disappointed at how quickly supposedly feminist groups lose solidarity with the victims of sexual violence if they are Jewish.”

The Yazidi-German writer Ronya Othmann said: “Whoever supported the sexual violence of Hamas on October 7th. denies against Israeli women, not only abandons them, but throws them in front of the bus and says they tripped and the bus is a bicycle.” The author Leah Czollek and Kelly Laubinger from the Sinti Union in Schleswig-Holstein also gave speeches . The contributions were moderated by the journalist Veronika Kracher. At the end the ambient band played again, like a requiem for those murdered on October 7th.