Protest: Palestininian flag sprayed on memorial for Nazi victims in Germany

A Palestinian flag was sprayed onto a memorial stone commemorating the victims of the Nazi regime in the south-western German city of Saarbrücken, police said on Monday morning.

The police have taken up the case, and the State Security Service is also involved, a police spokesman in Saarbrücken, near Germany’s border with France, said.

The flag was sprayed on a memorial stone located on a plateau in front of Saarbrücken Castle. An inscription on the stone commemorates the victims of the Nazi regime. According to the police spokesman, the flag was discovered on Sunday evening.

The spokesman further said that a man had reported two spray-painted Palestinian flags to the police at a bus stop in the town of Neunkirchen, some 20 kilometres outside of Saarbrücken, on Sunday evening. The police launched an investigation into that case as well.

German authorities have ramped up security for Jewish institutions in the country following the surprise attack by Hamas fighters on Israel on October 7, in which over 1,300 people were killed and over 150 taken hostage.

The rampage triggered retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza and Israeli troops began amassing on the border. On Sunday evening, the death toll in Gaza surpassed 2,670.

Local authorities in some German cities – including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich – have banned Palestinian solidarity rallies in recent days citing fears of violence and anti-Semitism.