Chaos erupted in Berlin, leaving dozens of police officers injured, as pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of the German capital in defiance of the local ban on such demonstrations over concerns of antisemitism.
On Wednesday evening, protests were held throughout Germany following the explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which international media initially blamed on Israel without evidence. In the Berlin borough of Neukölln, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists gathered despite the city’s ban on anti-Israel protests. The demonstration devolved into violence and rioting, with local police reporting that the demonstrators attacked officers with stones, bottles, and makeshift pyrotechnic missiles.
According to the Berlin Police, 174 people were arrested at the banned protest and 65 police officers were injured during the rioting that lasted until the early hours of Thursday morning. The protest was organised by the “Youth against Racism” activist group, German broadcaster NTV reports.
The police also reported that several cars, a truck, and a tree were set on fire during the chaos. The police, in turn, used pepper spray on some of the violent rioters and used water cannons to put out garbage cans and tires that were set on fire in the streets.
According to the German tabloid newspaper Bild, protesters in Berlin chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine,” “Allahu Akbar,” and “Israel – child murderer”.
Pro-Palestinian protests were also held in other German cities, including in Frankfurt where police deployed water cannons against the banned demonstration, as well as in Hamburg and in Nuremberg.
The protests came just hours after a Jewish synagogue was firebombed with Molotov cocktails in the early hours of Wednesday in Berlin.
Jewish leaders in Germany have warned their communities to be cautious of potential antisemitic attacks amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas after the terror group launched a series of deadly terror attacks, leaving at least 1,400 Israelis and tourists dead, in addition to approximately 200 people taken hostage by the radical Islamist organisation.
In response, Jewish communities in Germany have advised against speaking Hebrew or wearing religious symbols in public.