Pro-Palestinian activists took down the German flag outside Berlin's Reichstag building, home to the Bundestag, on Sunday and replaced it with a giant Palestinian flag, one day before the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Ynet reported.
Berlin police spokesman Martin Halweg told Bild that at around 11:15 a.m. a 22-year-old man climbed the pole and raised the Palestinian flag. The man, who said he acted out of "solidarity with Palestine," climbed down on his own at about 12:30 p.m., and firefighters removed the flag minutes later. Police detained three suspects, Germans with no apparent immigrant background according to police; a 20-year-old was later released.
Police opened criminal investigations into suspected "defamation of the state and its symbols," trespassing and a violation of the law on public assemblies. A group called Peacefully Against Genocide claimed responsibility.
The 28.5-meter pole and its 60-square-meter flag form the "Flag of Unity," a national monument to Germany's reunification on Oct. 3, 1990.
The Israeli Embassy in Berlin said: "Anyone who raises the Palestinian flag in Berlin while taking down the German flag makes it unequivocally clear that they oppose everything black, red and gold stand for: freedom, democracy and the rule of law."
FDP leader Wolfgang Kubicki said the perpetrators "want to sow discord in our country and trample on our republic's liberal democratic values."
Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Germany's Jews, began on the night of Nov. 9, 1938.
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