Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters is under investigation by German police for hate speech after dressing up as a Nazi during a performance in Berlin.
Waters, 79, wore a long black trench coat decorated with red armbands and metal neck insignia reminiscent of an SS officer while onstage at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium last week.
During the performance, Third Reich-style banners also hung from the stage while an inflatable pig adorned with the Star of David floated above the audience.
And now, Berlin police have said they are investigating Waters over his choice of clothing, as it “could be used to glorify the Nazi government.”
“We are investigating on suspicion of incitement to public hatred because the clothing on stage could be used to glorify or justify the Nazi government, thus disturbing the public peace,” police spokesman Martin Halweg said.
“The clothing resembles the clothing of an SS officer,” Halweg added.
Waters is a well-known pro-Palestinian activist who has been accused of holding anti-Jewish views. He has floated an inflatable pig emblazoned with the Star of David at his concerts in recent weeks as part of his ‘This is Not a Drill’ tour.
Roger Waters dressed as a Nazi SS officer when he performed in Berlin last week. German police said today they are investigating him for the disguise.
An inflatable pig was adorned with the logo of an Israeli arms company and Jewish stars during the concert in Berlin last week.
He compared Anne Frank to Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was fatally shot last year while covering an Israel Defense Forces raid on a Palestinian refugee camp.
During last week’s concert, a screen behind Waters displayed the names of Anne Frank and Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who was fatally shot last year while covering an Israel Defense Forces raid on a field. of Palestinian refugees.
Germany’s Orthodox Jewish rabbinical association has called for Waters’s performance to be banned in Germany, but the rocker continues to deny he is anti-Semitic and only speaks out against Israeli policy.
And some city officials have unsuccessfully tried to bar Waters from performing in Germany because of his controversial views.
Throughout his performance last week, Waters tried to draw comparisons between Nazi Germany and Israel today while doubling down on his criticism of the country’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Throughout the show, humanoid pigs and shady businessmen were seen ‘pulling the strings’.
At one point, he even simulated firing a machine gun into the crowd in his Nazi-inspired uniform, worn by members of a fascist organization in the 1982 Pink Floyd film The Wall, which tells the story of a rocker.
A crucifix-shaped screen also displayed the names of Anne Frank, who is said to have been killed in Germany for being a Jew, and Abu Akleh, the Al Jazeera journalist who the screen says was killed for being a Palestinian.
The Israel Defense Forces have denied any involvement in his assassination.
Waters also sang “Lay Down Jerusalem (If I Had Been God)” while the screen behind him flashed “F$%& the Occupation,” according to Bell Tower News reporter Nicholas Potter, who watched the show last week. .
It would later become a kutiya, a symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israel, while the words “Palestinian rights” are displayed on the screen.
And after a brief intermission, an inflatable pig flew across the concert hall with demonically lit eyes and adorned with the logo of an Israeli arms company and Jewish Stars of David.
At one point, he simulated firing a gun into the crowd in his Nazi-inspired uniform, worn by members of a neo-Nazi organization in the Pink Floyd film The Wall.
World Jewish leaders and some governments have spoken out against Waters’ performance.
The performance came after Waters won a legal battle to perform in Frankfurt, Germany, where magistrates labeled him “one of the most publicized anti-Semites in the world.”
In Germany, there are laws that prohibit the display of Nazi memorabilia and symbols such as the swastika.
Waters is due to play his last concert in Germany in the western city of Frankfurt on Sunday night, and protesters plan to demonstrate outside the venue.
Frankfurt city authorities tried to stop the concert, but a court ruled against him, citing artistic freedom, although a judge noted that some aspects of his show were “tacky” and obviously based on images of the Nazi regime.
Waters then began the performance in Berlin with an announcement on the screen reading: “On a matter of public interest: A Frankfurt court has ruled that I am not an anti-Semite.”
“To be clear, I condemn anti-Semitism without reservation.”
But his performance was condemned by Jewish leaders and even by various governments around the world.
Uwe Becker, the Hesse regional state commissioner for anti-Semitism, told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that Waters was promoting “hatred and incitement against Israel” with his shows.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which seeks to educate the public about the Holocaust, tweeted: “Shame on the Frankfurt authorities and the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Berlin, a place from which the Nazis deported Jews, for providing the anti-Semite #RogerWaters with this venue for their concert with no concern for the Jewish community.’
And the Israeli government tweeted: “Good morning to everyone except Roger Waters, who spent the night in Berlin (Yes, Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.”
Meanwhile, in the UK, Christian Wakeford MP spoke out against Waters’ upcoming performance in Manchester.
He filed a motion seeking to ban the concert citing growing ‘anti-Jewish sentiment’ in the country.
Dave Gilmour’s wife (centre), Polly Samson (right), called Roger Waters (left) an ‘apologist for Putin’ and an ‘anti-Semite’
Waters recently shared a link to an interview he had done on topics like Putin and Israel.
Waters has repeatedly denied the accusations of anti-Semitism, saying his disdain is for Israel and not the Jewish people.
In a recent interview with the German magazine Berliner Zeitung, he claimed that Israel was involved in “genocide” and compared the events to the way Britain behaved “during our colonial period.”
He said: ‘We believed ourselves to be inherently superior to indigenous peoples, just as the Israelis do in Palestine. Well, we weren’t and neither are Israeli Jews.
Waters then went on to defend Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
“The most important reason for supplying weapons to Ukraine is undoubtedly the benefit of the arms industry,” he said in the February interview.
And I wonder: Is Putin a bigger gangster than Joe Biden and everyone else in charge of American politics since WWII? I’m not sure. Didn’t Putin invade Vietnam or Iraq? He did?’
Those comments were criticized online by Polly Samson, the wife of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, who accused Waters of being “anti-Semitic” with his “rotten core” and labeled him an “apologist for Putin and a liar, thief.” , hypocrite, prosecutor. -avoidant, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick with envy-megalomaniac.’
Her husband, Gilmour, 77, liked it and retweeted her comments saying “every word” is “provably true.”
Waters’ team subsequently posted a response from their own Twitter account, saying: “Roger Waters is aware of the wildly inaccurate and inflammatory comments Polly Samson made about him on Twitter which he completely refutes.”
He is currently receiving advice on his position.
I am Rakesh Sharma, I associated with Elite News as an Editor, since 2021. I take care of all the news operations like content, budget, hiring and policy making.