Thousands protest in Berlin – speaker briefly detained at pro-Palestinian rally
About 3,500 people joined a pro-Palestinian rally at the Chancellery, broadcaster rbb said, while police put an anti-government march at 2,600. A speaker was held for an ID check.
Symbolic image · Photo: Stefan Müller (climate stuff) from Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Thousands of people demonstrated in central Berlin on Saturday. About 3,500 people had gathered for the pro-Palestinian rally "United4Palestine" by around 7:30 p.m., according to public broadcaster rbb. Its starting point was moved at short notice from the Brandenburg Gate to the Chancellery, which police said was done for security reasons. The march then moved through the government quarter to Potsdamer Platz.
Police temporarily detained several people during the event to establish their identities, among them a speaker who had called the "uprising" against the "illegal occupation" "legitimate". Anti-Israel chants were also reported. Police nevertheless said in the evening that the rally had been "mostly free of disruption".
Separately, around 2,600 government opponents marched from the Brandenburg Gate under the banner "ProjektM1llion", according to a police estimate; police said that protest was also calm. Some 1,400 officers were deployed, backed by units from other states and the federal police.