Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has accused German authorities of “silencing” protesters after police shut down a pro-Palestinian camp in the western city of Dortmund which Thunberg had been planning to visit.
“After almost 4 months of encampment, the student Palestine encampment in Dortmund were forced by German police to take down the camp and leave, and police said they would arrest me if I went there,” Thunberg wrote on X on Wednesday.
“Germany is silencing and threatening activists who are speaking up against the genocide and occupation in Palestine,” Thunberg said in a video message attached to the post.
“If you can, please show your support to the student movement and encampment in Dortmund and everywhere else where people are facing repression for speaking up against Israel’s genocide and full-scale attacks,” she said, adding: “We will not be silenced.”
German authorities said Tuesday’s decision to shut down the Dortmund camp was made due to concerns that Thunberg’s appearance could have drawn more people to the camp than originally permitted.
The decision to shut down the camp came one day after the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, a day marked by numerous pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrations across Germany.
In Berlin, protesters at a rally threw bottles at police, attacked media representatives and chanted anti-Israeli slogans. Thunberg was also present at that demonstration.
On October 7, 2023, terrorists from the radical Islamist group Hamas and other groups killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 more hostage and abducted them to the Gaza Strip.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military action in the Gaza Strip, Thunberg, who became known worldwide for her “school strike for the climate,” has repeatedly expressed her solidarity with the Palestinians and accused Israel of genocide.
