2023-12-10 19:47:00
Several thousand people demonstrated on Sunday against anti-Semitism and racism in Berlin as anti-Jewish incidents have increased in Germany since the start of the war in Gaza.
Around 3,200 people braved the rain to take part in the march in the heart of the city, according to a police spokeswoman.
The demonstrators gathered under the slogan, in reference to the Holocaust and the crimes committed by the Nazis.
Anti-Semitism has become “commonplace” in society, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the crowd at the demonstration.
“Sometimes I don’t recognize this country,” he said.
Germany has recorded hundreds of criminal offenses linked to the Gaza war since the conflict was sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
In particular, there has been a growing number of anti-Semitic incidents, including the targeting of a Berlin synagogue with Molotov cocktails in October.
Berlin police said on Sunday that authorities were investigating an incident in the capital in which a swastika was daubed on the door of a house displaying an Israeli flag.
“When speaking Hebrew in the street, I always turn around to see who is around,” Nadine Meshulam, an Israeli living in Berlin, told AFP during the demonstration.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration also took place in central Berlin on Sunday, attracting 2,500 people at the peak of the day, according to police.
On Saturday, Israel counted 137 hostages remaining in Gaza, out of some 240 taken on October 7 during attacks which left around 1,200 dead, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Retaliatory bombings and Israel’s ground offensive targeting Hamas have killed at least 17,997 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the latest tally from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
10/12/2023 18:45:49 – Berlin (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
#Thousands #demonstrate #antiSemitism #Berlin