vThey got it in court, but they didn't chant the slogan. The Frankfurt Administrative Court ruled on Friday that pro-Palestinian activists should not be prohibited from shouting the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. The administrative court in Kassel confirmed the decision.
During discussions before the start of the demonstration on Saturday afternoon, the police informed those registering that using the slogan could still have consequences for them. The demonstrators didn't want to accept that. They loudly expressed their displeasure: “Shame on you,” they shouted in the direction of the police officers.
A good 300 activists came to downtown Frankfurt to join the protest under the motto “Stop the genocide in Gaza – save Rafah!” Accompanied by the sound of drums, they marched through the streets, chants such as “Palestine is in need, has no water, has no bread, many children are already dead” or “Ceasefire is not enough for us, Scholz and Baerbock in court” could be heard. However, the Frankfurt Palestine Association, which organized the rally, registered significantly more demonstrators. The registrants expected 1,000 participants.
“Murderers and Criminals”
At an interim rally, an English-speaking speaker accused the German government of supporting genocide by the Israeli army in the Middle East. “The Germans have learned nothing from the Holocaust,” she shouted into the microphone to applause. She herself, she reported, was in Gaza two years ago. In her speech, she called the area controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas “a place full of energy, a place where freedom existed.”
Another speaker said: “Anyone who supports Israel today would have stood on the side of the German fascists in the 1940s.” He called the Israeli military “a gang of murderers and criminals.” The Palestinian people therefore also have the right to use force. “Palestine can defend itself, with stones and guns,” he shouted. “Resistance is international law, only the West thinks it’s bad.”
This poster shows the Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled, who was involved in a 1969 plane hijacking.
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Image: Peter Jülich
The demonstration, which was accompanied by a large police presence, remained peaceful. However, the police seized an activist's poster. It read the slogan “Globalize the Intifada” (“Bring the Intifada to all the world”) and featured a portrait of Leila Khaled. At the end of the 1960s, Khaled joined the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). In 1969 and 1970 she was involved in the hijacking of passenger planes.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration on Friday evening was not entirely without incident. There, police officers stopped a speaker because they considered his statements to be criminal. Criminal proceedings were initiated against the man. According to the police, the rest of the rally was peaceful; instead of the 500 registered participants, 75 came.
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