Berlin deploys 1,400 police for Saturday's rival mass rallies near Brandenburg Gate

Berlin police are preparing for a major operation on Saturday, with about 1,400 officers assigned to several large demonstrations in the government district, backed by units from Bavaria, Bremen and the federal police. From 10 a.m., the movement “ProjektM1llion” plans to rally at the Brandenburg Gate to demand the federal government’s resignation and early elections; 10,000 participants have been registered. The march is due to head toward Alexanderplatz and back. Police counted about 4,000 people at a rally by the movement in Berlin in June.

According to t-online, two regional branches of the youth group “Jägertruppe” have shared the call to attend; Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency lists the Berlin-Brandenburg branch as an “action-oriented right-wing extremist youth group” with potential for provocation and violence. The organizers say on their website that they reject all forms of extremism. From 3 p.m., the pro-Palestinian demonstration “United4Palestine – No Peace on Stolen Land,” with 3,000 registered participants, is set to start near the Brandenburg Gate and march through the government district to Potsdamer Platz. Police may move its starting point to keep the two gatherings apart.

A similarly named demonstration in October 2025 drew about 14,000 people and saw assaults and banned slogans, with around 30 arrests. Smaller rallies in support of Israel and against Islamist terrorism are also registered, as is a Left Party demonstration in Marzahn under the slogan “No neighborhood for Nazis.” Police must also secure the Festival of Lights, which opened Friday at about 40 sites. “Many people are in the city on this day,” a police spokesperson told the Berliner Zeitung.