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Protesters pressure Germany to stop arming Israel

Sunday, 26 May 2024 7:24 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 26 May 2024 7:28 PM ]

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stands on stage during an event as part of the Democracy Festival to mark the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law. (A photo by DPA news agency)

Demonstrators angry at the German government's handling of Israel's war in the besieged Gaza Strip have disrupted a citizens' forum featuring Germany's foreign minister.

During a Democracy Festival in Berlin on Sunday, amidst a conversation with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the crowd was pierced by the shouts of anti-government protesters.

The participants were visibly upset and put up banners to display their resistance. Some held banners reading “Stop the genocide”.

They accused the German government of corruption and favoring one side over the other in the Gaza War and urged Baerbock to halt arms deliveries to Israel instantly.

Baerbock grew frustrated as the tumult in the theater increased.

“There are no threats here!” she shouted at one participant.

One protester who identified herself as an “anti-Zionist Jew” said that, when it came to the war, freedom of expression was being restricted in Germany.

With Germany’s help, she said, Gaza was being reduced to “rubble and ashes”.

At least eight participants were forced out of the venue. In some cases, there were scuffles and physical altercations with security staff.

Global pressure grows on Germany and the United States to stop arms transfers to Israel as the regime’s genocidal war has been raging for more than seven months in the besieged Gaza Strip, with more than 36,000 Palestinians killed so far.

Berlin and Washington supply roughly 99 percent of all arms imported to Israel, according to an analysis published in March by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Both President Joe Biden of the US and Chancellor Olaf Scholz expedited weapons shipments for Israel after the regime launched its bloody war in Gaza in October.

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