Thursday 21, December
Police raids on Cafe Karanfil and antifascist women’s organisations Zora
The raid on Wednesday morning involved 170 police officers searching six apartments across the city, as well as the left-wing Cafe Karanfil in Neukölln and InterBüro in Wedding. The target of the raid was the anticapitalist, antifascist women’s organisations Zora who, according to a police press release, are accused of spreading propaganda on behalf of a banned terrorist organisation, in this case the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or the PFLP.
The propaganda in question appears to refer primarily to an Instagram post made by Zora on October 12. The post appeared with the headline “There can be no liberation of women without the liberation of Palestine” This was followed by a longer text in which the authors stated: “We know that Hamas has no interest in smashing the patriarchy” and claimed it was therefore important “to strengthen forces such as the PFLP as part of the Palestinian resistance”. Furthermore, the press release issued by the police mentions that one 67-year-old member of the group posted a picture on Facebook featuring the symbol of the PFLP.
That these actions were enough to trigger such widespread raids has proved controversial. Left-wing politician Ferat Koçak posed on twitter that “Karanfil is also a place for many refugees and works closely with the refugee movements. The racist repression against left-wing migrant spaces under the pretext of combating antisemitism continues. Solidarity with Cafe Karanfil.”
