Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, were arrested on Monday after blocking access to German defence company Rheinmetall’s Berlin office in protest against the firm’s weapons production linked to Israel.
The demonstration, organised by the activist group Peacefully Against Genocide, saw protesters glue themselves to the building’s entrances in an attempt to disrupt operations. The group accuses Rheinmetall of supplying ammunition used by Israel during its military campaign in Gaza.
Thunberg condemned the company’s plans to expand ammunition production at its Berlin facility.
“They are planning to build another arms factory which will produce ammunition which will be sent to Israel and arm them during the ongoing genocide, an apartheid occupation that has been going on for decades and also their attacks on Lebanon,” she said.
She added “We are doing this because it is our duty to protest against injustice… During a genocide, states and institutions have a legal duty to end the complicity, which means ending arms transfers and cutting ties with genocidal states such as Israel.”
Police eventually cleared the blockade and arrested dozens of demonstrators, with several taken into custody.
Rheinmetall’s Berlin facility, originally focused on automotive parts, has increasingly been converted to manufacture components for artillery ammunition. Protesters are demanding that the company halt all production linked to Israel and have vowed to continue demonstrations against its operations.