Pro-Palestinian protesters heckled and interrupted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday as he tried to give a speech at the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair. Several loud cries could be heard as Scholz began his speech at Germany’s second-largest book fair after Frankfurt. The Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper said the protesters appeared to be pro-Palestinian activists and one person could be heard calling, “It’s not a humanitarian disaster, it’s a genocide.” Scholz stopped his speech to address the pro-testers, telling them: “Stop shouting, that’s enough.”
“The power of the word brings us all together here in Leipzig, not the power of shouting,” he added, to loud applause. A man could later be heard calling on the audience to protest against arms deliveries to Israel.
Pro-Palestinian protests have proliferated in Germany and Europe since the Hamas October 7 attack sparked the Israel-Hamas conflict.—AFP
