Further demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza were held in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich on Sunday, one of which ended with clashes.
Police were on hand to ensure all rallies went smoothly and intervened in Berlin when clashes broke out and some demonstrators threw stones and bottles at police at a rally in support of Palestine in Berlin on Sunday.
About 3,500 people came to the rally in Berlin, police said. Some tried to break a police line and set off fireworks.
Police told the rally in the Kreuzberg district that “public safety is in danger,” in a loudspeaker announcement that said criminal offenses were being committed by people in the gathered crowd.
About 3,500 people took part in the protest march under the banner ‘Demo against Genocide in Gaza’, far more than the 1,000 who had initially registered.
The rally was expected to draw around 1,000 people and started in the diverse Kreuzberg district before arriving in the Neukölln district, which has a large Arab community.
A separate pro-Israel protest, titled ‘Together against Hamas’ crimes against Israelis and Palestinians. For the release of hostages and the end of Hamas rule in Gaza’, 500 people were expected to flock to the central Mitte district on Sunday.
As the country prepared to celebrate one year since the start of the war, Ricarda Louk, the mother of murdered German-Israeli hostage Shani Louk, spoke out about the hostilities.
“What happened on October 7 was an ugly and brutal targeted attack on civilians. I don’t think it’s fair to compare that with war victims,” she told the news portal web.de News.
She said there are an awful lot of civilian casualties in Gaza. “But Israel did not want this war, it was forced on Israel.”
The conflict that began when fighters from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas militia and others invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking up to 250 hostage, will mark a year old on Monday.
Israel retaliated with massive attacks that led to the deaths of more than 41,800 people, the Hamas-led Health Ministry said. Hamas makes no distinction between militant and civilian deaths. The figures cannot be independently verified.
Those who criticize Israel for this must ask themselves, “How did it start? It all started on October 7,” Louk said.
Shani Louk, then 22 years old, was kidnapped during the terrorist attack by Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7, 2023 that sparked the current war.
She was declared dead and in May the Israeli army said they had found her body.
“You get used to moving on and getting on with your life. But the memory keeps coming back,” said Ricarda Louk.
She said that trust in her fellow Arab citizens had been lost to some extent since October 7. But Louk also emphasized: “I’m still an optimist. I hope we can get out of this somehow.”
Meanwhile, an unknown assailant defaced the party headquarters of Germany’s conservative opposition party, the CDU, with graffiti, police said.
The person is said to have scrawled a slogan about the conflict on the building in Berlin’s central Tiergarten district. A CDU spokeswoman said the text had been masked off so that it was no longer visible. It would be removed on Monday.
In addition to the meetings, prayers and vigils also took place until the evening, including in front of the Kreuzberg synagogue.
Meanwhile, in Munich, numerous people gathered in the Bavarian capital for the commemorative event “365 Days – Munich against anti-Semitism”.
Many waved Israeli flags or small banners with the organizers’ logo, a red Star of David with the silhouette of Munich, demonstrating the city’s unity in the fight against hatred, discrimination and anti-Semitism.
Shortly after the start, the police did not have an exact number of participants, although organizers had hoped for 8,000 people in advance and wanted to create the largest demonstration against anti-Semitism in the country.
They also called for the release of all hostages, they said. A broad alliance of more than 100 different groups from the sectors of culture, politics, religion, sports, business and social initiatives has made the call.
As part of the commemoration event, a counter-demonstration was held by a group calling itself ‘Palestine speaks Munich’, under the banner ‘365 days of genocide’.
According to the police, more than a hundred people who registered participated. About 400 officers were on hand to ensure both events ran smoothly.
