Pro-Palestinian activists use lift to scale Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate
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Pro-Palestinian protesters waving Palestinian flags on top of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin after using a rented cherry-picker truck to unfurl a banner on Nov 13.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- Pro-Palestinian activists scaled Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and displayed a banner reading "Never again genocide – freedom for Palestine".
- Six activists were involved; three raised the banner and lit flares, while three locked themselves in the truck.
- Police arrested all six for trespassing and other violations, checking for damage to the gate caused by the cherry picker.
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BERLIN – Pro-Palestinian activists climbed atop Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate and unfurled a large banner on Nov 13 before the police arrested them.
Six activists wearing work vests and using a rented cherry-picker truck drove onto the tourist-packed square at noon, with three of them quickly using the lift to get on top of the 26m-tall structure.
“It happened very quickly,” Berlin police spokesman Florian Nath told AFP at the site.
“We were here within minutes, but the basket was already on its way up, and we didn’t stop it then because it’s too dangerous in case something happens or people fall out.”
The activists on top of the gate unfurled a banner that read: “Never again genocide – freedom for Palestine.”
They also lit flares and shouted slogans.
The other three activists, meanwhile, locked themselves in the cab of the truck, and the police smashed a window to forcibly arrest them.
Tourists watching pro-Palestinian protesters unveil a banner on top of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Nov 13.
PHOTO: REUTERS
A special police rescue team climbed up the Brandenburg Gate to detain the activists and bring them back down in an operation that lasted about 1½ hours, Mr Nath said.
All six activists were detained on suspicion of trespassing and a number of other violations, he added.
He said investigators were still checking whether the cherry picker had done any damage to the 18th-century gate.
The Nov 13 incident was not the first time protesters or others have illegally climbed the landmark, a well-known symbol of Germany located near the heart of Berlin’s government district.
“We’ve had that happen quite a few times,” Mr Nath said. “Our rescue team is very familiar with the routes up there. They’re very experienced.” AFP
