Berlin bans protesters from singing in Irish and Hebrew at pro-Palestine rally

Berlin police have told protesters they were not allowed to sing or speak in Irish or Hebrew at a pro-Palestine protest, according to Irish media reports.

The ban came after dozens of protesters rallied in front of the German parliament building on Friday, singing songs in English and Irish before police arrived and forced them to stop.

Police broke up the crowds and said only English, German, and in some cases, Arabic could be used during protests.

Berlin police also reportedly told the Irish Independent that no exclamations or chants could be made in Hebrew either. 

According to reports, the ban on languages other than English or German in Berlin without a translator present to interpret for police was seen as a crackdown on Arabic speakers, who make up a large proportion of Palestine supporters.

"At that camp, especially in the last days of Ramadan, there was a crackdown on any Arabic-speaking, including arresting someone," one protester, Caoimhe McAllister who was present at the demonstration was reported as saying.

“So we decided to highlight what we see as a really worrying human rights concern. We just had to highlight this by speaking in Irish.”

She added that police expressed concern that people may be discussing terrorist activity, or inciting violence.

"They were worried that we, in Irish, would say something that glorified terrorism or incited violence and therefore we were required to have an interpreter to clarify that for the police officers there," she said.

"And because we didn't have one, we were banned from speaking in Irish.”

The protesters were also reportedly stopped from displaying a banner in Irish that read 'Freedom for Palestine-Berlin'.

The Irish bloc issued a statement saying that the police crackdowns interfere with protesters' fundamental rights as European citizens to assemble and speak their language.

"Disruption and interference by the Berlin police began even before most of the group had arrived. The given reason for this unjust disruption was the lack of a registered Irish language interpreter, despite Irish being an official EU language," the statement read.

They added that the police actions amount to intimidation.

"We are painfully aware that if we were not a predominantly white-Irish group, this situation would have mostly likely unfolded very differently."

The New Arab has reached out to Berlin Police with a request for comment.

In December, the state of civic space in Germany was downgraded from 'open' to 'narrowed' following repression against climate and pro-Palestine activists, according to a report.

The report, published by Civicus and titled 'People Power Under Attack 2023', details repressive action by German authorities in 2023 including the raiding of homes and surveillance of communications, as well as the placement of restrictions on protest.

It also cited restrictions regarding pro-Palestinian protests with bans in Berlin and Frankfurt being notable cases, as well as police violence at a protest in Neukolln in Berlin in October.

In Berlin, authorities have also banned "demonstrative behaviour or expression of opinion" in support of Hamas which, according to authorities includes pro-Palestinian symbols.