German court fines woman for ‘from the river to the sea’ chant

Defence lawyer calls the $655 fine against 22-year-old protester a ‘dark day for freedom of expression’.

A German court has imposed a $655 (600 euro) fine on a woman for using the slogan – “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – during a protest last year, a ruling her lawyer decried as an assault on free speech. Lawyer Alexander Gorski, who represented the 22-year-old woman in Berlin, said the decision on Tuesday was “a dark day for freedom of expression”. “My client only wanted to express her hope for a future of democratic coexistence for all people in the region,” he told AFP news agency, adding that the woman, identified only as Ava M, would appeal the decision. A court spokesperson said the woman was found guilty of using the slogan during a demonstration at Berlin’s Neukoelln district on October 11, days after the Gaza war began. The court concluded that the use of the phrase “could only be understood as a denial of Israel’s right to exist and an endorsement” of Hamas’s October 7 attack, the spokesperson said. By October 11, Israel had killed 1,537 Palestinians, according to local authorities, more than the number of Israelis killed in the October 7 attack. Antiwar activists had been organising protests calling for a ceasefire at that time.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/6/german-court-fines-woman-for-from-the-river-to-the-sea-chant

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