By BZ/dpa and Dirk Böttger
After a ban on pro-Palestinian gatherings, Palestine supporters clashed with the police in Neukölln on Saturday evening.
At the corner of Sonnenallee and Reuterstrasse, some very loud firecrackers were set off, as a dpa reporter reported. According to BZ information, there was also a so-called New Year’s Eve bullet bomb among them. A bicycle and a shopping cart were damaged. According to information from witnesses, the man was arrested in a hallway. The officers deployed filed a complaint for a violation of the Explosives Act.
Small groups repeatedly came together and shouted slogans such as “Free Palestine”. The police repeatedly intervened and temporarily detained some people. A police spokesman spoke of a “cat and mouse game” with groups of 10 to 25 people. But the police are on site with strong forces. The situation is under control.
Police forces in Sonnenallee on Saturday evening Photo: Spreepicture
The police had banned a demonstration planned for Saturday afternoon in Kreuzberg and all alternative events until October 20th. A gathering at the Brandenburg Gate with around 50 participants was stopped on Saturday afternoon. A police spokesman said the people had apparently come to a pro-Palestinian demonstration that had been postponed by the organizer for a week. According to their own information, the police had around 260 officers deployed across the city.
Since the massive attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Saturday last week, there have been repeated pro-Palestinian hate demonstrations against Israel in Berlin. There were several bans on demonstrations due to fears of anti-Semitic statements. Nevertheless, pro-Palestinian groups gathered on Sonnenallee in Neukölln on Friday evening. There were minor commotions.
In their assessment of Friday’s events, the police said that up to 150 people had gathered several times at the intersection of Sonnenallee and Reuterstrasse. A total of 24 people were temporarily taken into custody. There were criminal charges for breach of the peace, assault, resisting law enforcement officers, disturbing the public peace and other offenses.
In addition, the police reported a number of graffiti with a political connection to the Middle East conflict from the past few days. In Lichtenberg, a pro-Israel sign was found at the Frankfurter Allee subway station. In Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain, a total of three painted Stars of David were found on two residential buildings and on a toilet block, as the police reported.
A banner “with reference to Palestine” hung on the bridge of the Tempelhof S-Bahn station. This was removed, as were anti-Israel posters on houses on Sonnenallee. Anti-Israel posters were discovered at the East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain, and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered on the Senate Building Administration building in Wilmersdorf. They too were removed.
A 15-year-old teenager in Spandau reported an incident on Friday evening: She had been insulted by an unknown woman, who had also pulled the headscarf off her head and kicked her. The attacker disappeared and the girl was taken to the hospital, the police said.