BERLIN

German police arrested a pro-Palestinian woman for her social media posts and confiscated her smartphones and computers, in what critics say is a clampdown on free speech.


The 41-year-old was arrested on Wednesday morning after the police searched her apartment for allegedly “using the symbols of unconstitutional organizations,” Berlin police said in a statement.


“She is accused of having published criminal content relating to Hamas and the current Middle East conflict, such as the slogan ‘From the river to the sea,’
on social networks in four cases since October 2023,” according to the statement.


“During the search, three cell phones, two computers and a hard drive were found and confiscated. The woman was temporarily arrested for identification purposes and was subsequently released,” the police said.


Several German states, including Bavaria and Berlin, have banned the chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” late last year, arguing that it was antisemitic, although many activists have insisted that it was a call for equal rights and justice for Palestinians.


Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, has cracked down hard on pro-Palestinian public events, and banned dozens of pro-Palestinian rallies in major cities in recent months.