Dhe Hesse Administrative Court’s final ban came very late: a police announcement at 2:48 p.m. at the Alte Oper made it clear to the first demonstrators who had gathered under the motto “A Free Palestine” why the square in front of the opera house was covered in large barriers was blocked. A few days after the brutal attack by the radical Hamas on Israel and the subsequent retaliatory strike by the Israeli military on targets in the Gaza Strip, supporters of both sides wanted to demonstrate at the same time in Frankfurt.
While the solidarity meeting for Israel on Paulsplatz was peaceful, the Hessian Administrative Court banned the pro-Palestinian demonstration in the second instance. The reasoning stated, among other things, that events at similar gatherings suggested that public safety was at risk.
Nevertheless, rallies in the city center
What followed was a cat-and-mouse game with the police as the disappointed Palestine demonstrators marched in several groups through the already crowded city center and still wanted to make their voices heard. They included Palestinians mourning the deaths of relatives in Gaza, young activists loudly demanding freedom of expression and speaking out about what they call a genocide in Gaza, and indoctrinators who called the Hamas massacre in Israel “fake news.” . They all gathered on Rathenauplatz and at the Hauptwache, among other places, to chant their slogans “Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea”. This means that there should be a free Palestine. Namely, in an area from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean – i.e. where Israel is now. The sentence is considered code for the negation of the Jewish people’s right to exist as a nation-state.
The police announced via loudspeaker that they would not tolerate such spontaneous demonstrations. About an hour later, demonstrators were surrounded by a cordon of emergency services at the Hauptwache and Rathenauplatz to record their personal details. You are taking part in a prohibited event and are therefore committing an administrative offense. Several participants from the Palestinian camp criticized the fact that the police there had given no indication of the ban on the gathering and that the encirclement had taken place abruptly. Also included were several small children who were present at the demonstration with their parents.
The mood was very tense for a long time, and the city center was closed to traffic by the police. A police helicopter circled over the city and several water cannons were deployed to the edge of the pedestrian zone.
Solidarity demonstration for Israel on Paulsplatz
At the same time, around 1,200 people gathered under the plane trees in front of St. Paul’s Church to show their solidarity with Israel, including numerous city councilors. The mayor of Frankfurt Mike Josef (SPD), among others, appeared as a speaker there. There should be no meetings in Frankfurt at which Israel’s right to exist is questioned, he said. Ron Huldai, the mayor of Frankfurt’s twin city Tel Aviv, asked him on the phone to be loud and show that Frankfurt is on Israel’s side. In addition to Josef, the Hessian anti-Semitism commissioner Uwe Becker (CDU) and the American consul general also spoke. Thatcher Scharpf emphasized that America stands with Israel. The Frankfurt author Michel Friedman complained that a ban on Hamas was only now being considered in Germany. The danger posed by extremists is not only perceived in the West: “All Arab states have now understood that Islamist terror threatens all states.” Most speakers concluded with the words “Never again is now” and “Am Israel Chai” – The People of Israel Lives. At the end everyone sang the Israeli national anthem haTikvah together.
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