German police arrested several protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin on Saturday, forcing them to stop playing music and chanting slogans against the Israeli occupation.
Law enforcement officers, dressed in anti-riot gear, disrupted a rally of hundreds near Wittenbergplatz metro station, where demonstrators had gathered to express solidarity with Palestinians under the slogan “Stop the aggression in the West Bank—Do not supply weapons to Israel.”
Protesters played music and chanted slogans in Arabic critical of the Israeli regime, with some delivering speeches in Arabic while voicing opposition to the Israeli occupation and the US.
Police ordered the music to be stopped and demanded that demonstrators vacate the square.
Many attendees carried Palestinian flags 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.”
A large number of officers deployed, police moved against the demonstrators after dozens defied orders to leave and staged a sit-in.
Several protesters were arrested in what witnesses described as a heavy-handed crackdown.
Germany has openly expressed its support for the Israeli occupation through its officials, repeatedly agreeing to sell weapons and military equipment to Tel Aviv, despite the ongoing genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
