BERLIN October 2, 2025 – A legally permitted pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin escalated into chaos late Wednesday night, with riot-geared police advancing on hundreds of protesters chanting in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted by Israeli forces hours earlier in international waters.
The rally, organized outside Berlin’s iconic Reichstag building amid glowing floodlights and flanked by historic government structures, drew a diverse crowd waving Palestinian flags and decrying Israel’s naval boarding of at least six aid vessels carrying medicine, food, and activists from over 20 countries. Among the detainees was Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, part of a convoy challenging Israel’s 18-year maritime blockade of Gaza, where UN agencies warn of imminent famine risks for up to 500,000 Palestinians due to restricted aid flows.
Eyewitness videos captured lines of black-clad officers in helmets and yellow high-visibility vests—marked with “Polizei” and tactical units like the Bereitschaftspolizei—forming a cordon and pushing forward with batons raised, prompting shouts of “Shame!” and scattered scuffles. Organizers reported several minor injuries among participants, including bruises from alleged baton strikes, though police maintained the force was necessary to prevent the crowd from advancing toward restricted areas. “This is peaceful protest—why the violence?” one demonstrator, speaking anonymously to reporters on site, demanded as blue police lights flashed against the night sky.
The Berlin action was one of dozens erupting globally in response to the flotilla raid, which organizers compared to the deadly 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists during a similar blockade challenge. In Italy, trade unions escalated solidarity by halting train services in Naples and Milan, stranding thousands in a symbolic shutdown; Istanbul’s streets filled with an estimated 10,000 marchers blocking major avenues; and Barcelona saw portside rallies swell with dockworkers refusing to unload goods linked to Israel.
European governments weighed in swiftly, with France demanding Israel ensure the safety of its detained nationals and grant immediate consular access, while Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed plans for the swift repatriation of its citizens from the seized ships, including journalists aboard the Alma, Sirius, and Adara.
The Global Sumud Coalition, behind the flotilla, pledged to dispatch additional convoys in defiance of the blockade, which they argue exacerbates Gaza’s dire humanitarian straits—aid trucks often languish for weeks awaiting Israeli inspection approvals amid ongoing conflict. “This interception isn’t security; it’s strangulation of hope,” coalition spokesperson Huwaida Arraf said in a statement, vowing “unrelenting sumud” as detained activists faced processing at Ashdod Port.
As dawn broke over Berlin’s streets, cleanup crews swept away protest debris, but the night’s fervor underscored a widening rift: Israel’s defense of the operation as a lawful enforcement in a “combat zone” clashed with international cries for accountability, spotlighting the blockade’s toll on civilian life in Gaza.