OVG confirms ban on Palestinian demonstrations
At the weekend, Palestinians wanted to demonstrate in the capital on the occasion of Nakba Day. Due to fears of outbreaks of violence and hate speech, the police assembly authority had banned the rallies. The applicants appeal – but to no avail. First of all, the Berlin administrative court confirmed the ban on the police on Friday.
After another complaint to the Higher Administrative Court, the organizers failed in the evening. This means that the applicants no longer have any further legal remedies to take action against this.
Court upholds ban on pro-Palestinian gatherings in Berlin
The 1st Senate of the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court has decided that the gatherings registered for Friday, Saturday and Sunday under the motto “On the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland” will remain banned in Berlin. THUS, the applicant’s appeal against the decision of the Berlin Administrative Court was dismissed.
As the Higher Administrative Court announced on Friday, the course of the evening of previous events justified the police’s danger forecast according to the court’s finding. Again and again there were anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements. Demonstrators appeared violent in order to appear intimidating, police said.
What does Nakba Day mean?
The so-called Nakba Day (Arabic: “catastrophe”) begins annually on May 15 – one day after the anniversary of the founding of Israel. This day commemorates the flight and expulsion from the official Mandate of Palestine between the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine and the 1949 armistice after the war that neighboring states waged against the newly established Israel.