After the cancellation of a controversial “Palestine Congress” planned for three days in Berlin, the city’s police were fully prepared for spontaneous protests on Saturday.
Police broke up the pro-Palestinian conference in Berlin’s Tempelhof district on Friday and asked around 250 participants to leave the hall just two hours after the event began.
The organizers of the conference condemned Israel’s ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip and attacked the German government’s support for the Israeli government.
According to the police, the organizers had registered a demonstration of 1,500 people against the event ban for Saturday. A police spokesman said the meeting place would be protected accordingly.
Despite a quiet night in the capital, police were deployed in large numbers on Saturday to monitor the situation, with reinforcements available if necessary.
“How many officers we deploy on Saturday depends on the situation,” said a spokeswoman in the morning. Originally, around 900 officials were supposed to accompany the second day of the congress.
The authorities cited a video broadcast of a speech by a man who is banned from political activity in Germany because of hate speech against Israel and Jews as the reason.
As the man spoke, the police intervened with several officers, interrupting the transmission and temporarily switching off the power.
According to a police spokeswoman, the authorities saw the danger “that such anti-Semitic, violence-glorifying and Holocaust-denying speeches could be repeated at the event.”
The decision therefore applies not only to Friday, but also to Saturday and Sunday, she added.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser praised the police’s efforts on X, formerly Twitter.
“It is right and necessary for the Berlin police to take action against the so-called Palestine Congress. We do not tolerate Islamist propaganda or hatred against Jews,” wrote Faeser.
The police union also called the officers’ actions a “strong signal to those who exploit our democracy or doubt the assertiveness of the capital’s police.”
“Anyone who wants to use our democratic opportunities must also adhere to regulations and laws,” said state department head Stephan Weh in a press release.
