A group of BDS activists violently assaulted visitors at the Israeli Seret International film festival on Sunday in Berlin, causing injuries and disrupting a podium discussion, according to German police. An estimated 10-12 BDS activists participated in the disruption and attacks.

According to the police notice reviewed by The Jerusalem Post, the BDS activists punched two women, who filed criminal complaints against the BDS supporters. BDS is the abbreviation for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign targeting the Jewish state. The German parliament classified BDS as antisemitic in May.

The police report said after the screening of the documentary film “King Bibi,” a question and answer discussion was planned with the director and a 42-year-old started to scream. At the same time, a second 42-year-old man and a third unknown person held a poster in front of the film screen. It is unclear what was written on the poster. The discussion could not continue after the disruption.

A 62-year-old man, who organized the evening film presentation, called on the three men to leave the event. The BDS activists refused to leave the cinema. The 54-year-old manager of the cinema attempted to force the activists out of the building.

The police said all participants were released after showing identification. The Green Party politician, Volker Beck, wrote on Twitter on Sunday: “When BDS violently attacks everything that is Israeli, it is time the rule of law shows where the borders are.

That’s not criticism, that’s violence.” Beck urged Berlin’s police to take a more aggressive posture against BDS. Last year, two BDS activists disrupted the presentation of an Israeli Holocaust film in Berlin, prompting security officials to evict the protesters as the audience booed the stoppage caused by the BDS people. Ronnie Barkan, whose conduct Berlin’s
intelligence agency classified as antisemitic, was one of the activists who disrupted the Holocaust film festival at the time.