Protester crashes stage of Roger Waters concert with Israeli flag

A young pro-Israel activist ran onto the stage in the middle of a Roger Waters concert in Frankfurt last weekend.

The man, identified as Marcel by Israeli Channel 12, is head of the German-Israeli Society organisation’s youth forum in Frankfurt. He interrupted the event by waving an Israeli flag in protest against the allegations of antisemitism levelled against the Pink Floyd co-founder.

Speaking to the Israeli channel after the stage crash, Marcel claimed security guards threatened to “break his arm” if he didn’t hand over the flag backstage, and to break his neck if he didn’t give them his phone.

Waters addressed the protester storming the stage, calling it “unnerving.” It wasn’t the only Israel-related stunt taking place at the concert. Several people in the audience stood up and waved Israeli flags while singing “Am Israel Chai” (The people of Israel live).

Outside the venue, a group of politicians, Jewish organisations and other groups gathered to protest Waters’ concert, which took place at the infamous Festhalle, where Nazis rounded 3,000 Jews and sent them to concentration camps in 1938.

#HERO! This brave man rushes the stage where antisemite Roger Waters was just playing in Frankfurt and waves Israeli flag. Meantime, you hear supporters chant “Am Yisrael Chai” (People of Israel live). ???????????? pic.twitter.com/xWfBGMNvMR

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) May 28, 2023

The protest came after Jewish News reported Waters is being investigated by Berlin Police on suspicion of incitement, after wearing a long leather jacket and gloves with a Nazi-like red armband, depicting crossed hammers instead of swastikas, during his concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on 17 May.

Police chief inspector Martin Halweg said: “The State Security Department at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office has initiated a criminal investigation procedure regarding the suspicion of incitement of the people (140 Paragraph 4 of the German criminal Code).

“The context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace. After the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office for legal assessment,” the police chief added.

Waters also compared the death of Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh with that of Anne Frank, the Jewish diarist who died in the Belsen Nazi death camp.

After the graphics were used during Waters gig in Berlin, the Israel Foreign Ministry on Twitter also wrote: “Good morning to every one but Roger Waters, who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.”