Al Jazeera Network Berlin

Berlin Police Shut Down Pro-Palestine Conference

Conference organizers condemn police interference and call for freedom of speech

Thousands gather in Berlin to protest police actions

Thousands of German farmers, truck drivers and agricultural workers have gathered in Berlin to protest police actions against a pro-Palestine conference. The conference, which was organized by a group called Nadija, was scheduled to take place on Saturday, but was shut down by police shortly after it began.

Nadija, which is led by Nadija Ghulam, an Afghan woman who immigrated to Germany in 2011, has been fighting for a year against the German government and police to ensure freedom of speech for the pro-Palestine movement.

The conference was scheduled to feature speakers from around the world, including Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The police said they shut down the conference because they feared it would lead to violence and that they were acting on the orders of the Berlin Interior Minister, Andreas Geisel.

The conference organizers condemned the police interference and called for freedom of speech.

The shutdown of the conference has sparked outrage among many in Germany, who say that it is an attack on freedom of speech and that the police are being used to suppress dissent.