Several buildings of the Free University of Berlin (FU) were smeared with red paint by unknown persons on Wednesday night. According to the university, several red Hamas triangles pointing downwards were also painted on the walls. The university’s management has filed a complaint, the FU announced in Berlin on Wednesday.
FU President Günter Ziegler stated, “We as the Executive Board of the Free University of Berlin condemn anti-Semitism and the use of anti-Semitic symbols – including those of the terrorist organization Hamas – in the strongest possible terms.” The FU will not allow anti-Semitism, racism, Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination or any form of violence to find a place at the university.
According to a post by the chairman of the Jewish Student Union of Germany (JSUD), Noam Petri, on X, the graffiti is also directed against the FU president personally. A photo shows that the words “Ziegler will pay” are written above one of the red Hamas triangles.
Hamas uses the red triangle in propaganda videos as a symbol to mark “enemy targets.” The triangles were also smeared on the Institute for Social Sciences at Humboldt University on Tuesday night. The university has filed a criminal complaint and has already had most of the symbols removed, a university spokeswoman told the Evangelical Press Service. The institute was last occupied by pro-Palestinian activists in May and was extensively smeared with anti-Semitic slogans.
