European Legal Support Center files urgent appeal against restriction of Nakba demonstration in Berlin
Berlin 14th May 2025 – The Berlin assembly authority has restricted this year’s Nakba demonstration in Berlin to a stationary rally at Südstern. The ELSC views this as an unacceptable restriction of freedom of expression and assembly, rights protected under Articles 5 and 8 of the German Basic Law. In response, the ELSC has filed an urgent appeal at the administrative court in Berlin, with a ruling expected on the 15th of May.
- The justification provided by the assembly authority does not justify its order for immediate enforcement,
- Their risk assessment is arbitrary and incomprehensible,
- Restricting the demonstration to a stationary assembly is unconstitutional and undermines its communicative purpose of reaching wider communities, especially in Berlin-Neukölln.
ELSC lawyer Alexander Gorski comments: “This latest attack on freedom of expression and assembly reveals that the Berlin police do not care about fundamental rights when it comes to the Palestine solidarity movement. While Foreign Minister Wadephul and Federal President Steinmeier pay their respects to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, thereby supporting the genocide in Gaza, the right to protest in Berlin is ever more restricted. This erosion of fundamental rights and freedoms cannot be tolerated any longer.
On 15. May Palestinians and the Palestine solidarity movement protest and mourn the ongoing Genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. In Germany, Nakba demonstrations as well as other demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine, are routinely banned, restricted or subjected to extreme police violence.
The ELSC’s newly launched database on anti-Palestinian repression documents these reoccurring Nakba demonstraion bans. Our database proves that this is not an isolated case rather, a systematic attack to silence and criminalise Palestinians and those in solidarity with them in Germany. The database is accessible at index-of-repression.org
