“The outfit resembles that of an SS officerHalweg added.
The images that have been disseminated through social networks can see Waters dressed in a black coat and red bracelets, in a recital that was presented on May 17 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.
Media from Germany and Israel indicated that during the concert, inscriptions were seen in red letters on a screen with the names of Anne Frank and Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist for the Al Jazeera channel who died in an Israeli operation in May 2022.
“We are investigating and once the procedure is over, we will transmit it to the public ministry for a final legal evaluation,” explained the police spokesman, who pointed out that it will be the prosecutor’s office who will decide whether or not to persecute the 79-year-old British singer.
The concert generated strong criticism in Israel.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry reproached Waters on Wednesday “have sullied the memory of Anne Frank and six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust“.
Great news! Berlin police have launched a criminal investigation into Roger Waters following his concert in which he dressed as a Nazi SS officer holding a gun and denigrated the murder of Anne Frank.
shockingly @AMCTheatres is promoting Waters currently. pic.twitter.com/6AlIHMmbR2
—StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites)
May 25, 2023
“Waters wants to compare Israel to the Nazis“, and is “one of the biggest detractors of the Jews of our time,” the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, abounded on Twitter.
Waters is identified as a pro-Palestinian activist, who brought out an inflatable pig with the Star of David on stage at his concerts, and who has promoted boycott actions against Israeli products.
The authorities of the city of Frankfurt had instructed the cancellation of the presentation of the British musician on May 28, although this decision was annulled by an administrative court in the name of freedom of expression.