From the BZ editorial team
5,000 to 6,000 people gathered in Kreuzberg at Oranienplatz. They walked from Kottbusser Tor to Hermannplatz to hold two rallies in between. A bottle flew towards the police at Hermannplatz. The meeting ended early Saturday evening.
Police forces said the meeting ended without incident. However, it will continue to have a presence in Neukölln.
The police officers were also on site with interpreters, among other things. At the beginning they read out restrictions on gatherings in German and Arabic. This includes, among other things: propagating the destruction of the State of Israel or its residents or glorifying acts of violence.
At the corner of Oranienstrasse and Adalbertstrasse, the officers removed the loudspeaker truck from the demonstration after statements were made in Arabic over the loudspeaker that were a violation of the gathering restrictions.
A little later, the police took action again: “At Kottbusser Damm, our emergency services stopped the elevator to inform the person in charge and the participants via our loudspeaker vans that anti-Israel statements will no longer be tolerated.”
At a banned demonstration that was originally planned for Alexanderplatz, the police were not aware of any evidence of people who had ignored the ban. In the past few days, however, there have been repeated hate demonstrations and outbreaks of violence following bans on demonstrations.
An estimated 6,000 demonstrators at Oranienplatz Photo: Isabel Pancake
Meanwhile, there was another demonstration in front of the Foreign Office in Berlin. But only 15 people were present there. It remains to be seen whether the situation in Kreuzberg will remain calm despite the high police presence.