From BZ/dpa
A few days ago, statements like “Free Palestine” were heard in the central reading room of the Unter den Linden State Library. For this purpose, several loudspeakers were used, which were hidden behind books.
When asked, a spokeswoman described the content of the public address broadcast on Wednesday as “anti-Israel propagandistic statements.”
Employees immediately started looking for the source and found six Bluetooth speakers that were hidden behind books.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of November 3rd and lasted a few minutes. In addition to “Free Palestine,” statements such as “Stop the Genocide” were also made.
“The State Library has filed a complaint and does not tolerate any anti-Semitic propaganda in its buildings,” the spokeswoman said. According to a statement on the State Library website, the complaint is directed against unknown people. The boxes found were handed over to the police.
“We, the employees of the Berlin State Library, expressly distance ourselves from anti-Semitic statements of all kinds,” it said, among other things. A short video sequence that can be seen on social media is said to show part of the incident.
According to the “Tagesspiegel”, the “Global South United” alliance, a presumably left-wing splinter group, is behind the action. In a statement on its website, the alliance announced that it wanted to inform visitors to the State Library about the “complicity of the German state with Israel’s genocidal aggression.”
The group also accuses the German federal government of a “neo-fascist criminalization of solidarity with Palestine.”
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), strongly condemned the sound system in a statement. “I am relieved that this unspeakable action was quickly interrupted,” Parzinger continued. The shock of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th is still deep. “We in the SPK take a clear stand against the anti-Semitism that is rising again in our society and refuse to be used as a stage for propaganda.” The State Library is one of the foundation’s institutions.