Overview
- Berlin’s administrative court ruled on February 19, 2026, that police bans on major Nakba-day marches in 2022 and 2023 were lawful but that prohibitions on two small, fixed-location gatherings were not.
- The court accepted police reliance on past violence, citing the 2021 Nakba demonstration where 93 officers were injured, to support risk forecasts for large procession-style events.
- Judges struck down bans on two roughly 50-person gatherings planned at Oranienplatz in 2022, finding the assumption that march participants would shift to those events was hypothetical and insufficiently supported.
- The panel called the matter a borderline case and emphasized that authorities must substantiate concrete dangers when restricting assembly, even as prior incidents can inform risk assessments.
- Organizers achieved only a partial win and their lawyer, Ahmed Abed, criticized the outcome as unsatisfactory, while prior emergency rulings upholding the bans remain noted and criminal probes into last year’s clashes, including a severely injured 36-year-old officer, continue with no suspect identified.