An action on Friday evening on Thomashöhe on Rollberg in Neukölln has caused horror in the Neukölln district office. A “Solidarity Concert for Palestine” is to be held there from 6 p.m. on Friday. At least that is what it says on the posters of the “League of Communists” (BDK) and their “Communist Youth League”.
But the assembly authority at the Berlin police registered the concert as a rally under the title “Solidarity rally with political speeches and artistic acts for Palestine”. The person who registered was Ferat Koçak, a member of the Left Party, and another person was the chairman of the rally.
The Neukölln district office does not understand why the concert was permitted as a political gathering. The office regularly has to deal with massive noise complaints from residents, illegal raves and littering in Hasenheide, for example. However, after receiving information and following inquiries from the district office, the police stuck to their decision to allow the concert.
“On the one hand, we do not get enough money from the state to maintain our green spaces – and on the other hand, a concert is then approved in a green space, where, according to all the experiences of the last few months, anti-Semitic slogans “The assembly should be called,” said district mayor Martin Hikel (SPD) to the Tagesspiegel. “To put it diplomatically, I lack understanding for this decision by the assembly authority.”
Organizer claims to be “organization of militants”
In any case, the posters for the event say “Free open-air concert and rally”. Some rappers are scheduled to perform, and donations are being collected, with the money going to the “Palestinian Peoples Party” and “their comrades in Gaza”. Profits raised at the concert are to go to “local anti-repression work on the subject of Palestine”, with the motto: “Against police violence, genocide and apartheid. Berlin stands for Palestine.”
The organizer BDK sees itself as an association of comrades “from different autonomous, post-autonomous, migrant and socialist organizational approaches”. Its goal is “to be an effective organization of militants based on a clear program and statute”. The BDK’s program is based “on Marxism and the experiences of the workers’ movement as well as those of the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles”.
