As many as 100 pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered in Berlin despite a police ban on the demonstration.
The pro-Palestinian protesters joined a rally in the district of Kreuzberg organized by a group of Jewish and Israeli people in Berlin who objected to the Berlin police decision to ban the original demonstration.
Berlin police said that protesters made what they considered to be anti-Semitic statements at the protest. The police sent recordings of chants and singing in foreign languages to interpreters to review.
A police spokeswoman said officers ordered some of the participants to leave the area and issued citations.
According to police, members of the Jewish Forum were harassed.
The managing director of the German Union of Journalists (dju), Jörg Reichel, reported on Twitter that at least four press representatives were harassed, attacked and obstructed by the rally participants. Reichel criticized police for standing by passively.
According to a police spokesman, the situation had calmed down by the evening.
The demonstration was intended to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes and communities following the 1948 war that led to the founding of the state of Israel.
The police banned the event because they said there was a danger that it could lead to "anti-Semitic incitement of the people, glorification of violence, the conveyance of a willingness to use violence and thus to intimidation and violence."
The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg upheld the ban and sided with police, referring to similar recent events in its ruling earlier on Saturday.
Up to 1,000 participants were registered for the event, advertised as a "demonstration for the fundamental right to freedom of assembly and expression on the 75th anniversary of the Nakba" in the Neukölln district of Berlin.
The group of Berlin Jews and Israelis organizing the rally criticized the ban on the Palestinian demonstration and called on Berlin Jews to gather in solidarity. The group stressed that Palestinians also deserved the right to rememberence as well.
"Repressive policies of this kind do not protect us," read a call to action. "Demanding equality is NOT antisemitic - exploiting jews for racism and authoritarian politics is!"
