Demos banned in Berlin
Faeser wants to take action against Hamas supporters
October 11, 2023, 4:29 a.m
After the terrorist attack on Israel, Interior Minister Faeser wants to take stronger action against Hamas and its support organizations in Germany, coalition parties and the Union are calling for a ban. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin are banned due to expected criminal offenses.
After the attack on Israel, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced tough action against sympathizers and supporters of the terrorist organization Hamas in Germany. “We are using all intelligence and police means to take action against Hamas supporters,” the social democrat told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Our security authorities are targeting the Islamist scene even more closely in order to immediately identify reactions to Hamas’ terror and stop any support. This also applies to collecting donations for Hamas.”
The state authorities called on the Federal Minister to take consistent action against demonstrations and gatherings at which the actions of Hamas are celebrated. “All assembly law instruments must be used to prevent demonstrations of solidarity with Hamas’ terror as early as possible,” she said. “All police options must be used to take immediate, tough action when Hamas’ terror is glorified. And all residency options must be used to expel criminals from the Islamist scene if they do not have a German passport.”
The Berlin police have banned a Palestinian supporter demonstration announced for today, Wednesday, as well as a rally at the Brandenburg Gate. “In its justification, our assembly authority refers to the current situation in the Middle East and crimes at comparable assembly situations in the past as well as the events last weekend in Berlin,” it said Platform X (formerly Twitter). The pro-Palestinian network Samidoun celebrated the attack on Israel on Saturday by distributing sweets on Sonnenallee in Neukölln. Anti-Semitic slogans were chanted at a spontaneous meeting in the evening.
Parties want Hamas banned
Loud Information from “Spiegel” The traffic light parties and the Union want to call on the Bundestag to issue a “ban on activities and, if necessary, an organization” for Hamas in Germany and its frontline organizations as well as against Samidoun.
Faeser does not believe it is necessary to tighten the law. “Our constitutional state has the tools to take tough action against supporters of the terrorist organization Hamas,” she said. However, the vice-chairman of the Union parliamentary group, Andrea Lindholz, is calling for a ban on Hamas’ activities. “According to the current report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, around 450 Hamas supporters are spreading their propaganda, collecting donations and recruiting new followers,” she said in a statement. “The Federal Minister of the Interior must now issue such a ban promptly.”