Police arrest several protesters at a pro-Palestinian demo near Wittenbergplatz metro station in Berlin, Germany on February 8, 2025.
Berlin, February 9 (RHC)-- Police have arrested protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the German capital city of Berlin, forcing them to stop playing music and chanting Arab slogans against Israel.
Several pro-Palestinian protestors were arrested by police dressed in anti-riot gear at the square near the Wittenbergplatz metro station on Saturday. Law enforcement officers disrupted the hundreds-strong rally of protesters who had gathered at the square to show support and solidarity with the Palestinians.
Demonstrators were playing music and chanting Arab slogans against the Israeli regime under the slogan “Stop the aggression in the West Bank—Do not supply weapons to Israel.” Some of the protesters delivered speeches in Arabic during the rally and chanted anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. slogans to the tune of the Arabic music.
Law enforcement officers demanded that the music be stopped and protesters leave the square. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the rally also carried little flags of Palestine and signs reading “Hands off the West Bank,” “Stop arming Israel,” “Gaza is not for sale,” “Freedom for Palestine,” and “Palestinian children deserve to grow up.”
The German police clear a pro-Palestinian camp in Berlin amid a growing number of such protests across Europe.
The German police clear a pro-Palestinian camp in Berlin amid a growing number of such protests across Europe.
Nearly 250 German police officers at the scene clamped down on the demonstrators after dozens of demonstrators defied police orders to leave the premises and staged a sit-down. Several protesters were arrested in the heavy police crackdown.
Germany’s scholars warn that a new antisemitism resolution passed by right-wing lawmakers in parliament threatens academic freedom in the country. A group of prominent German scholars have criticized Bundestag lawmakers for pushing the country in the direction of totalitarianism.
Prof. Michael Zurn from the Berlin Social Science Center WZB sounded the alarm at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday, warning that a controversial antisemitism resolution passed by parliament could restrict academic freedoms and criticism of the Israeli regime’s actions.
Max Planck Institute’s Prof. Ralf Michaels also voiced strong opposition to efforts to mount political pressure on free voices in the country.
University scholars, legal experts, and civil rights advocates have repeatedly called on lawmakers to devise laws prohibiting the police from executing heavy-handed and brutal crackdowns on peaceful protesters and instead pass laws moving the society towards “securing free discourse.”
