A wave of anti-Israel demonstrations has been held in Germany amid escalating tensions between Palestinian radicals and Israel, DW writes
Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, shouted “Freedom for Palestine” and demanded that Israeli authorities stop shelling the Gaza Strip. In the town of Gelsenkirchen, around 180 protesters attempted to march through the town centre towards a synagogue, chanting anti-Semitic slogans. Police officers were forced to use batons to break up the demonstration.
Also on Wednesday, 12 May, around 550 people took part in a protest in the centre of Hannover due to a lack of hygiene measures: many of the demonstrators were not wearing their protective masks.
In Berlin, two intruders stole an Israeli flag that was hoisted outside the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. Also on the night of 13 May, an unidentified person smashed a window of a synagogue in the city of Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg.
Since 10 May, Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli army have kept up an exchange of rocket attacks. The situation escalated after riots at the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem. According to Israel, six civilians and one soldier were killed in rocket attacks by radicals.