Some German residents reveal “open sympathy for terrorist organizations,” based on Barbara Slowik
The police chief of Berlin, Barbara Slowik, has suggested Jewish folks and overtly LGBTQ people to train warning when visiting sure neighborhoods with important Arab populations.
Slowik said that there aren’t any particular “no-go zones” in Berlin, insisting in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung on Monday that the capital is simply as protected as different German cities and even “safer” than another main cities in Europe.
“Nonetheless, there are areas, and we should be sincere at this stage, the place I’d advise individuals who put on a kippah or are overtly gay or lesbian to be extra attentive,” she mentioned.
“There are, sadly, neighborhoods in Berlin with a majority of residents from Arab backgrounds the place there’s open sympathy for terrorist organizations and really blatant antisemitism,” she added, refusing to single out particular areas in order to not “defame any teams of individuals.”
German authorities have initiated greater than 6,200 investigations into antisemitic incidents for the reason that October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel. In response to Slowik, nearly all of these instances contain hate speech and vandalism fairly than violent crimes. Violence in opposition to Jewish people is comparatively uncommon, however the police chief mentioned each such incident “is one too many.”
“Of the 1,300 investigations relating to violent crimes, it’s largely about assaults or resistance in opposition to law enforcement officials at demonstrations,” Slowik mentioned. Nonetheless, she added that the Jewish-Israeli neighborhood in Berlin “perceives the full variety of antisemitic crimes, which raises their worry of turning into targets of assaults.”
When requested why authorities can’t merely ban pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli rallies, Slowik insisted that the liberty of meeting is a cornerstone of Germany’s democracy.
“A ban is just not a panacea and never a everlasting answer,” she mentioned, arguing that even when authorities prohibit such gatherings, potential perpetrators of antisemitic violence would nonetheless stay in Berlin, simply not in plain sight.
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