Germany: The return of Nazi salutes and slogans

last updated 8 January 2015

Alex Feuerherdt

Jungle World

German demonstrations in support of the Palestinians in Gaza are growing increasingly anti-Semitic—and the police are doing nothing, said Alex Feuerherdt. In Berlin, 7,000 mostly Palestinian demonstrators marched through the city center, at least 100 of them giving the “Heil Hitler” sign and shouting, “Die, Jews!” The police stood by, watching, even though the Nazi salute is illegal here. At a demonstration in Hanover, an Israeli flag was burned as marchers chanted, “Death, death, Israel” and “Jews, get out!” Again, there were a few Nazi salutes, and again, the police did nothing. Finally, at a demonstration in Duisberg last weekend, officers intervened—yet their action was not against the fascists but against the few pro-Israeli demonstrators. At this “stop the war in Gaza” rally, Muslims began throwing rocks and snowballs at a house that had an Israeli flag hanging from a window. The police actually “broke into the apartment” and took down the flag, saying it “was a provocation.” Apparently, Muslim demonstrators who “wish nothing but death and destruction on Israel” are not merely tolerated in Germany. They are “getting concrete support.”