Some 1,000 protestors gathered in Hamburg’s Steindamm Street on Saturday, calling for an end to “dictatorship values,” according to the German daily Die Welt.
In a video posted on X, the crowd can be seen responding to shouts of ‘Takbir’ with “Allahu Akbar.” The video also shows the mob shouting part of the Shahada in Arabic, “There’s no God but God.”
One demonstrator held a placard that read “Caliphate is the solution,” while others held signs with the inscription “Gaza has won the info war.”
The protest was reportedly organized by a group called Muslim Interaktiv. According to the organization’s social media, the protest was meant to stand against the “demoniz[ation of] all Islamic life in Germany.”
“We will raise our voices together, inshallah,” a translated post on X read. “Together against Islamophobic reporting, both in recent weeks and in recent months.”
The Hamburg protests came as anti-Israel protests have intensified across the world, while the Israel-Hamas war inches towards its eighth month. In the U.S., protesters at Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin and other schools have set up tents on their universities’ quads as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians.
The war began on October 7, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Around 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed, igniting a fierce response from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Israel’s military response has been criticized by anti-war groups for exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which IDF supporters have blamed on Hamas. In December, police in Berlin banned a pro-Palestinian rally planned for New Year’s Eve out of fear of potential chaos and crimes.
“The situation is emotional,” Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik said at the time. “An influx of troublemakers is to be expected who could use the meeting to commit crimes. No meeting leader could keep such a development under control. That’s why the police banned the demonstration.”
