Pro-Palestinian activists took down the German flag outside Berlin’s Reichstag building, home to the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, on Sunday and replaced it with a large Palestinian flag. Police detained three suspects. The man who climbed the flagpole said he had acted out of “solidarity with Palestine.” According to police, the suspects were Germans with no apparent immigrant background. A 20-year-old suspect was later released.
The incident came just one day before Germany and the world mark the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht.
A Palestinian flag flies near the parliament building in Berlin
(Video: from X)
Police opened a criminal investigation into suspected “defamation of the state and its symbols.” The flagpole and the German flag normally flown on it form a national monument known as the “Flag of Unity,” commemorating Germany’s reunification on Oct. 3, 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The pole stands 28.5 meters tall, and the flag measures 60 square meters. Because of its special symbolic status, it is exempt from the usual rules requiring national flags to be flown at half-staff during national mourning, though it is lowered on exceptional occasions.
Responding to the incident, the Israeli Embassy in Berlin said: “The Palestinian flag is less a symbol for something than primarily against something. Around the world, it is waved not as a symbol for the Palestinians, but as a symbol of hatred toward Israel. In France, for example, it was the flag of violent riots against the republic. Anyone who raises the Palestinian flag in Berlin while taking down the German flag makes it unequivocally clear that they oppose everything black, red and gold stand for: freedom, democracy and the rule of law.”
The man who raised the flag climbs down on his own
(Photo: from X)
Berlin police spokesman Martin Halweg told the German newspaper Bild: “At around 11:15 a.m., a 22-year-old man climbed the pole and raised the Palestinian flag.” He added: “We therefore also consider the action a violation of the law governing public assemblies.” Police also opened an investigation into suspected trespassing.
According to the Berlin fire department, firefighters arrived to remove the Palestinian flag. At around 12:30 p.m., the man who had raised it climbed down from the monument on his own. Firefighters removed the flag a few minutes later.
A pro-Palestinian group called Peacefully Against Genocide claimed responsibility. According to Bild, the group staged a similar action last year, when activists climbed onto the Brandenburg Gate and unfurled a banner with pro-Palestinian messages.
The action also drew criticism from German politicians. Wolfgang Kubicki, leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party, said: “The perpetrators leave no doubt about their intentions: They want to sow discord in our country and trample on our republic’s liberal democratic values.”