In Berlin, where police said 15,000 people rallied peacefully on the German capital’s Alexander Square, protesters chanted George Floyd’s name and held up placards with slogans such as “Stop police brutality” and “I can’t breathe.” A crowd gathered at the US Embassy in Berlin on Saturday. Graffiti artists also sprayed the image of George Floyd on a stretch of the wall that divided the German capital city for decades during the Cold War.
The next day, crowds demanded justice in front of the Brandenburg Gate. “Justice can’t wait,” “Black futures matter,” “Suffocate the racists,” and “We are all the same and equal,” their signs read. Protests in Cologne, Münster and Nuremberg also drew large crowds, along with smaller cities such as Flensburg in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
The black lives matter Berlin website ushered black people to march forth saying, “Many of us need to mourn, many of us are angry, many of us feel the need to do something, please reach out to us and let us know what you need. We cancelled the BLM March in July because we refuse to put Black lives at risk during this pandemic. We stand by this decision but are open to finding a way to support our community.”
The activists also spoke to white people about their involvement in support of Black people asking them to ask themselves why they would need to march. Is it a means to make one feel better or to support the cause?