Several hundred people in Berlin took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the district of Kreuzberg on Monday, the anniversary of the deadly attack on Israel led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Police said that some in the crowd threw bottles at officers, and added that several arrests had been made.
The protesters gathered in the late afternoon and chanted, with many wearing Palestinian scarves and waving Palestinian flags while joining in chants such as “Viva, viva Palestine.”
Police estimated the crowd at around 400 people. A man with a megaphone cheered on the demonstrators: “Yalla yalla Intifada,” “Stop the mass murder” and “Israel is terror state.”
The slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was also heard several times. In Germany, the staunchly pro-Israeli government has argued that the phrase is a Hamas slogan, which can mean its use is illegal under German law.
The phrase refers to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. According to the German Interior Ministry, Hamas uses the phrase to mean that the current state of Israel should be eliminated.
