Police at the empty Hermannplatz Photo: Olaf Selchow
From the BZ editorial team
No demo at forbidden demo!
With a large contingent, the Berlin police made sure on Saturday that a banned pro-Palestinian demonstration in Neukölln did not take place.
Team vehicles were parked around the registered meeting place at Hermannplatz, and according to a spokeswoman, 360 officers were on duty. At the originally planned time of the rally at 5:30 p.m., however, everything was quiet and there was no gathering of people.
The police had banned the demonstration on the grounds that it could lead to inflammatory or anti-Semitic calls, glorification of violence or acts of violence. The Administrative Court and the Higher Administrative Court had confirmed the ban in summary proceedings.
Just last Saturday, anti-Semitic agitation broke out at a Palestinian demonstration in Neukölln and Kreuzberg.