BREAKING NEWS

Berlin police clear pro-Palestinian camp from parliament lawn

Berlin police on Friday began clearing a pro-Palestinian camp set up in front of the German parliament by activists demanding the government stop arms exports to Israel and end what they say is the criminalization of the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Police dismantled tents, forcibly removed protesters and blocked the surrounding area to stop others arriving.

The action followed clashes between demonstrators and police on US campuses and a blockade at Paris's Sciences Po university, part of international protests to decry Israel's military campaign in Gaza and Western support for Israel.

The Berlin camp 'Besetzung Gegen Besatzung' - 'Occupy Against Occupation' - began on April 8, coinciding with the start of International Court of Justice hearings in Nicaragua's case against Germany for providing military aid to Israel.

"The idea was to draw attention to that and ... to the German complicity and active enabling of the Israeli genocide in Gaza," the camp organizer, Jara Nassar, told Reuters.