Berlin police broke up a demonstration in Berlin’s Wittenbergplatz on Saturday after chants in Arabic were heard in contravention of permits, which required that only German and English be used in the demonstration.
Berlin police had ordered the demonstration only to allow speeches, chants, and music to be in either English or German after a previous demonstration featured an Arabic chant that reportedly called for the deaths of Jews, Berlin-State radio reported.
The police said they did not have enough Arabic-speaking police or interpreters in order to effectively police the demonstration for illegal chants.
Police also restricted the use of drums by protestors, citing their inability to follow what protestors were chanting when too many drums were in use.
However, on the day of the demonstration, around 300 people gathered at Wittenbergplatz, and some began chanting and singing in Arabic, prompting police to order the demonstrators to disperse peacefully.
Around 100 people stayed in contravention of the order to disperse. Police made several such announcements, according to Bild.
Über unseren Lautsprecherwagen wurden die ehemaligen Teilnehmenden der Versammlung am #Wittenbergplatz mehrfach aufgefordert, den Platz friedlich zu verlassen, nachdem ihre Versammlung polizeilich aufgelöst wurde.Unsere Einsatzkräfte beginnen nun, den Platz zu räumen. Dabei kann…
— Polizei Berlin Einsatz (@PolizeiBerlin_E) February 8, 2025
Around 30 people were arrested as a result of the violations, according to Tagesspiegel, with about 13 criminal and administrative offenses being recorded and 9000 total charges filed in connection with similar gatherings since the start of the war.
Restricting language
Restrictions on the use of certain languages by German police have become more regular as more migrants move into the country, increasing linguistic diversity.
A 2024 pro-Palestine demonstration saw both Arabic and Hebrew banned for use, while a Ukrainian demonstration had the use of Ukrainian restricted.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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