Thousands take to streets across Germany to hold pro-Palestinian demonstrations

Several thousand people took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in several German cities on Saturday.

In Berlin, around 2,000 people took to the streets in a march entitled "Stop the genocide in Gaza" through the districts of Wedding, Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, according to a police spokesman.

In some cases, "criminally relevant" statements were made verbally or on posters. Individuals were temporarily detained to establish their personal details.

A second demonstration entitled "Solidarity with Palestine," which started in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, passed off without incident, according to police reports.

The police there estimated the number of participants at 430, while the organizers of the march had registered 3,000 people.

In Hamburg, several hundred people came to an authorized demonstration on Saturday under the motto "Solidarity with the people of Palestine."

The police initially spoke of around 350 participants. A dpa reporter estimated the number at more than 1,000 demonstrators. According to the police, there were no incidents until late afternoon.

In the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, too, people took to the streets again on Saturday at several smaller pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Around 200 people took part in a demonstration in Düsseldorf, as reported by a dpa reporter on the scene.

Demonstrations were also planned in Cologne, Bielefeld and Dortmund.

The background to the demonstrations is the war in Gaza. Since the bloody attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7 and the Israeli counter-offensive there have been repeated expressions of solidarity with one side or the other of the conflict throughout Germany.

According to the latest figures, more than 15,200 people have been killed and more than 40,600 injured, with 6,500 people also missing.