Anniversary of the Hamas attack: Around 400 people demonstrate against Israel

On the anniversary of Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel, several hundred people gathered in Hamburg for a pro-Palestinian demonstration - under the motto "Three years of genocide". The police on site said the number of participants was around 400. The demonstrators, many of whom wore Palestinian scarves, chanted “Free, free Palestine!”, “Germany is funding, Israel is bombing” and other slogans, waving Palestinian flags and flags of communist groups.

Across Hachmannplatz at the main train station, some participants spread out long white sheets with Arabic names. According to speakers, it was a list of more than 70,000 victims of Israeli attacks. Banners read: “Stop Nakba now!” and “Stop arms exports to Israel.” Palestinians describe the flight and expulsion of more than 700,000 Arabs during the first Middle East war in 1948 as “Nakba” (catastrophe).

According to a dpa photographer, 50 to 100 counter-demonstrators with Israeli flags gathered in the St. Georg district. The police ensured that both groups remained separated from each other.

Anti-Semitism commissioner criticizes the call for demonstrations

The Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned against taking part in the pro-Palestinian demonstration. The Thawra Hamburg group, among others, called for the event. This is being observed as a suspected extremist case by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The Hamburg anti-Semitism commissioner Anna von Villiez criticized the call for the demonstration. This does not mention the terrorist acts of October 7, 2023 anywhere. In doing so, he puts Hamas' attack into perspective and is a deliberate attack on the October 7 commemoration.

Three years ago, fighters from Hamas and other terrorist organizations killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped more than 250 others as hostages in the Gaza Strip. Among the victims were numerous participants in a music festival. Israel responded to the attack with a military offensive in Gaza, leading to a protracted war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.

Greens: Demonstration “difficult to bear”

The Green Party's parliamentary group agreed with the anti-Semitism commissioner's criticism. “The fact that a group that relativizes Hamas terror and is observed by the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected extremist case is holding a demonstration on Remembrance Day of all days is difficult to bear,” explained parliamentary group leader Michael Gwosdz.

The CDU parliamentary representative Anna von Treuenfels-Frowein criticized the fact that the University of Hamburg was giving premises to the Thawra Hamburg group. “Universities must not become refuges for anti-Semitism and extremist propaganda,” said the science policy spokeswoman for the CDU parliamentary group in a press release. Thawra Hamburg has announced two more meetings at the university this month on Instagram.