NEWS FROM BERLIN
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrations since October 2023
The Berlin police have counted 674 pro-Palestinian demonstrations and hundreds of related incidents since October 2023. A further 24 demonstrations have been banned, as the Senate and police responded to an SPD questioning. According to the police, the number of recorded violent offenses at pro-Palestinian demonstrations up to the end of May was 714, almost 600 of them in the past year. In addition, 615 propaganda offenses and incitement to hatred were recorded during the demonstrations. The Senate Interior Administration stated that the majority of demonstrators were peaceful. Source: rbb
Neo-Nazi attacks in Lichtenberg
In 2024, the police registered the highest number of right-wing extremist crimes in Berlin for 10 years: 2,791 cases, an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. The significant increase in coercion and threats is particularly striking. The number of so-called propaganda offenses also rose. These include the distribution of banned symbols in the form of stickers or graffiti. Last year, Lichtenberg was one of Berlin’s hotspots for right-wing crimes: 246 offenses were counted in the district, compared to 147 in 2022. 85 right-wing extremist crimes were already documented in the first quarter of 2025. Source: rbb
Soldiers honored at the first National Veterans Day in front of the Reichstag
National Veterans Day were celebrated for the first time in Germany on Sunday. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) opened the central ceremony. Around ten million Germans currently count as veterans. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) described the Bundeswehr as an “integral part” of society. On the other hand, several counter-demonstrations were announced in the capital. At midday, “Veterans against war” met in Scheidemannstraße in front of the Reichstag, with 110 registered participants. There was also a counter-vigil in Spreebogenpark near the Reichstag. According to the police, ten arrests were also made at another demonstration in Mitte. Source: rbb
Muslims in Berlin under general suspicion
It is estimated that up to 10% of Berliners are Muslim, but it is difficult to say exactly how many. This is because those who identify as Muslim do not necessarily have to be part of an Islamic community. The organization CLAIM brings together 50 Muslim and non-Muslim civil society actors and it runs a center on anti-Muslim discrimination in Berlin. Last Wednesday, it published its current annual report, which shows that 70% more cases of discrimination were registered last year than in 2023. The office registered 644 incidents, roughly two incidents per day. Almost two-thirds of those affected were women (64%). Source: nd
Berlin activist after Gaza mission: “Israel won’t exist for much longer”
The Berlin activist Yasemin Acar, who intended to travel to the Gaza Strip together with Greta Thunberg on a ship of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, landed at Berlin’s BER airport last Thursday. She was greeted there by dozens of supporters. Acar accuses Israel of kidnapping the crew members of the sailing ship Madleen in international waters. The activist group had set sail from Sicily at the beginning of June. According to their own statements, they wanted to bring relief supplies such as baby food and medical supplies to the suffering people in the Gaza Strip. “We will come back until we stop the siege,” Acar added. Source: BZ
NEWS FROM GERMANY
Making peace? Only with weapons!
The reactions to the modest manifesto against unlimited militarization by SPD politicians show how far the internal mobilization has progressed—no matter how much the Social Democrats, who are pleading for a reversal of the “turnaround” delusion, claim that they also stand for the EU’s defense capability and military support for Ukraine. Today, even the most well-founded warning about the growing danger of a nuclear inferno associated with the stationing of US medium-range missiles in Germany is considered treason. Rheinmetall and Co. are happy about this, as are, of course, the arms investors in other parts of the world. Source: nd
Border control with Austria was unlawful
The Bavarian Administrative Court has decided that a personal check on June 11, 2022, at the German-Austrian border was unlawful. During an identity check at that time, the Federal Police came across the international law expert Stefan Salomon. He is a junior professor of European law at the University of Amsterdam. Salomon then took action against the check, represented by Christoph Tometten from the Berlin law firm Möckernkiez. The decision nevertheless does not address the general legality of internal border controls. Source: lto
“Drama in the billions”
Last Saturday, Jens Spahn, head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, made a public demand for a return to compulsory military service. For a moment, the headline “Jens Spahn demands” displaced the numerous accusations directed at Spahn himself—about the masks affair and about Spahn’s mistakes at the beginning of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, when he was Federal Minister of Health. On Sunday, NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted from the 170-page report by special investigator Margaretha Sudhof: driven by “political ambition,” Spahn had wanted to “master the procurement of the masks alone.” The result was “a drama costing billions.” Source: taz
