A funny thing happened on the way home the other week. Approaching our neighbourhood, we saw police in riot gear at a crossroads, a large crowd gathered and a rubbish bin set alight in the middle of the street, just like you see in the Middle East during protests.
Welcome to Berlin, during the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict. My neighbourhood, Neukölln, is home to many people of Arab descent, including children of Palestinian refugees. And some of my neighbours were clearly angry about what they saw as Europe’s unconditional support for the ongoing Israeli bombing of Gaza.
Another demonstration elsewhere in Berlin the same night had been very different: maybe 300 people, all tip-toeing carefully around Germany’s increasingly diffuse definition of anti-Semitism to voice their discontent. For example, they avoided the slogan – “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” – because it implies denial of the State of Israel’s right to exist.
The demonstrators were peaceful but the police were not. “Why are you pushing me?” one middle-aged German woman cried out, eyes brimming. Another young woman, shoved heftily from behind by an officer, tripped and fell. Despite brandishing my press pass like a small, ineffective plastic shield, I got a whack, too.
Since October 7, when the militant Hamas group brutally killed an estimated 1400 Israelis and Israel began bombing Gaza in retaliation, this sort of encounter has become more common. And the police brutality-lite was mostly just annoying. But on the whole, it indicates a more dangerous trend.
At the time of writing, authorities in several European cities had banned almost all protests with any whiff of Palestinian about them. In Germany, where far-right politicians keep rising in the polls, it was worrying to see how quickly the right to freedom of assembly had been disassembled.
In my neighbourhood, police in riot gear patrolled kebab restaurants. Wearing a traditional Middle Eastern scarf, a keffiyeh, could mean being pulled aside and questioned, even if you’re a kid. The city sent a letter to local schools suggesting students who wear a keffiyeh be reported to police. Raising a Palestinian flag or anti-war sign can get you arrested.
Germany’s explanation for this is that there might be anti-Semitic slogans shouted or potential unrest. But you can’t help but ask why authorities also allow neo-Nazi groups to parade unhindered through the city streets annually shouting nasty things, and why the May 1 demonstrations are tolerated every year, even though everyone knows the kids taking part will throw stones and bottles.
Amnesty International said “blanket bans on pro-Palestinian demonstrations are questionable from a human rights perspective. Freedom of assembly applies to everyone. It doesn’t matter how you view the protest politically.”
Why is this happening? Germany is liable for the Holocaust and the death of millions of Jews during World War II and locals see support for Israel as a “reason of state”, part of their national identity, a special responsibility.
That culture of remembrance is a positive. But, with these blanket bans and policing of innocent scarves, let alone what appears to be – deliberate or not – a policy verging on racism while actual neo-Nazis get to put on rock concerts, something has clearly gone wrong.
“It is extremely dangerous when one infers that Germany’s special responsibility equals unconditional support for Israel’s actions,” Tsafrir Cohen, the head of humanitarian organisation, Medico International, told local media. Because “there are right-wing radicals in the Israeli government who advocate ethnic cleansing.”
Cathrin Schaer is a freelance journalist living in Berlin.
