A German administrative court found on Monday that neither the city of Frankfurt nor the state of Hesse had the right to cancel a Roger Waters concert scheduled on May 29 at the Frankfurt Festhalle, as it had previously sought to do, Deutsche Welle broadcaster reported.
The court ruled that the state and city were obliged “to make it possible for Waters to stage the concert” as contractually agreed.
According to DW, the court found that it could not see that Waters was glorifying or qualifying Nazi deeds or identifying with Nazi racial ideology. Therefore, the court added that denying Waters access to the site would be to infringe upon his free speech rights as an artist.
The city of #Frankfurt announced on Friday that it was canceling the forthcoming concert of Pink Floyd rock legend Roger Waters, accusing him of being “one of the world’s best-known antisemites”. He is not, and this why .. #palestine #pinkfloyd #rogerwaters #israel #germany pic.twitter.com/Y3ENdm27hp
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) February 25, 2023
The city of Frankfurt, which owns a 60 percent stake in the Festhalle venue, decided to cancel the gig following intense pressure from pro-Israeli groups.
Waters is known for his outspoken commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is a proud supporter of the rights of Palestinians.
Waters is not unique in having weaponized allegations of antisemitism wielded against him in Germany. The Euromed Human Rights Monitor recently expressed concern over the “anti-Arab purge in German media.”
Waters has become an outspoken critic of Israel’s apartheid and oppression of the Palestinian people since he first visited the West Bank in 2006 and was approached by the BDS movement to support the campaign.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
