Police in Berlin interrupted and canceled a pro-Palestine conference shortly after it began, hours after one of the keynote speakers said authorities detained him at the airport and prevented him from entering Germany.
Officials initially stopped the Palestine Congress because a political activity ban had been imposed on another speaker in Germany, the police wrote on the social media platform X on Friday.
Police did not name the speaker, but congress participants wrote on X that he was Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta.
Police later wrote on
They said there was a risk that the same speaker would be invited to speak again and accused him of making “anti-Semitic” comments in the past.
The Berlin police just canceled the entire Palestine Congress. I was the only speaker who successfully completed a speech.
Salman Abu Sitta was denied after a minute. Our livestream ended and the power went out.
That is Germany. pic.twitter.com/07NUCpownv
— Hebh Jamal (@hebh_jamal) April 12, 2024
On the congress website, organizers denounce Israel’s crimes in Gaza and say: “Together, with the voices of the Palestinian movement and the international community, we will denounce Israeli apartheid and genocide.” We accuse Germany of complicity.”
To secure the event, the Berlin police said they had sent 930 officers, including reinforcements from other regions of Germany.
“Silencing a Witness”
One of the keynote speakers, Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor, had previously been refused entry to Germany to attend the event, he said.
“The German government forcibly refused me entry,” posted Abu Sittah on X.
The doctor, who volunteered in Gaza hospitals during the first weeks of Israel’s war, said he arrived at Berlin airport on Friday morning before being stopped at passport control, where he was held for several hours and then told he had to go Return to Britain.
Airport police said he was denied entry for reasons of “the safety of conference participants and public order,” Abu Sittah told The Associated Press.
Event organizer Nadija Samour told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency: “There is absolutely no legal basis for this, no justification at all.” [Abu] Sittah is Dean of the University of Glasgow. I can’t imagine him being a dangerous person or someone who incites violence. Quite the opposite.”
Abu Sittah added on
I was invited to speak at a conference in Berlin about my work in Gaza hospitals during the current conflict.
The German government forcibly refused me entry
The silence of a genocide witness before the International Court of Justice reinforces Germany’s complicity in the ongoing massacre.— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) April 12, 2024
In a case brought by Nicaragua at the UN’s top court, Germany is accused of supporting the genocide in Gaza by selling weapons to Israel, whose war has killed more than 33,600 people since October 7.
According to the Economy Ministry, Germany is one of Israel’s largest military suppliers, supplying equipment and weapons worth 326.5 million euros ($353.7 million) in 2023.
“Government pressure”
There is “pressure from the federal government” to cancel the Palestine Congress, organizer Samour told Anadolu, adding that Germany is “actively and illegally” trying to prevent the event.
She also accused Berlin of deliberately delaying the start of the congress, citing technical reasons as an excuse.
“Congress could not be banned. Freedom of assembly protects Congress and that is exactly why the police have come up with all kinds of harassment,” she said.
The crowd waiting to enter the hall on Friday chanted slogans such as “Viva, Viva Palestine” and “Germany is funding, Israel is bombing.” Some waved Palestinian flags in front of the building.
The police in Berlin have generally taken a tough stance towards pro-Palestinian protests since the beginning of the Gaza war. The authorities have imposed strict restrictions on demonstrations or banned them entirely.
Demonstrators and critics accused the authorities of violating democratic freedom of expression and assembly with the raids.