Hundreds rally in Berlin in support of Israel after Iranian attack
Several hundred people gathered at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Sunday following a call from the German-Israeli Society to show solidarity with Israel following the Iranian attack overnight.
Police in the German capital put the number at around 500 and said the event had passed off peacefully.
Demonstrators held up placards reading "Hands off Israel" and "There is no right to anti-Semitism." Many carried Israeli flags, and there were also old-style Iranian flags from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
German-Israeli Society head Volker Beck expressed sharp criticism of the Iranian attack. "This step of attacking Israel was an unprecedented escalation on the part of Iran," he said.
Iran had shown that it posed a danger to peace in the region and in the world as a whole, Beck said.
The German-Israeli society is an independent organization supported by the German Foreign Office. It promotes cultural, scientific and civil society ties between the two countries.
An Israeli military spokesman said that 99% of some 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched in the attack had been intercepted by Israel and its allies, with minimal damage caused.
Iran's "Operation Truthful Promise" was mounted in revenge for an airstrike on its embassy grounds in Damascus on April 1 in which two generals and others were killed. Israel is believed to have carried out the attack and has not denied responsibility.
