Gymnasium Tiergarten Cancels the Ceremonial Awarding of Graduation Diplomas in Fear of Pro-Palestine Protests

In June 2024, Gymnasium Tiergarten, a high school in Berlin-Mitte, made the unprecedented decision to cancel its graduation ceremony that was planned for July 5, 2024, at Delphi Filmpalast as well as to inform the Berlin police of the cancellation. School administrators claimed to have learned from a "reliable source" that approximately 50 out of 120 students in a WhatsApp chat group had planned to use the event as a platform for pro-Palestinian protest.

In a letter sent to families of students, school leaders wrote that they had no choice but to cancel the event because they could not guarantee its safety. They expressed concerns about the risk of a school event being used to present unbalanced perspectives or becoming a platform for threats, insults, pressure, or danger.

School leaders declined to comment on the matter and referred press inquiries to the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family. At the request of broadcast service rbb, a Department spokesperson said, "We received the information from the press and immediately forwarded it to the school supervisory authority. Our goal is to find a solution together with the school and to ensure that the presentation of the Abitur certificates takes place in an appropriate setting."

Berlin's Senator for Education Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU) publicly supported the cancellation: "I stand firmly by the side of the school management and the teaching staff in their decisions," she told the Berlin Tagesspiegel. "We will not tolerate any threats, expressions of hatred and anti-Semitic statements and will continue to take restrictive action together against any disturbances."

After backlash over the school's initial plan for graduates to pick up their certificates from the secretary's office, a replacement event was held on July 4, 2024, in the school’s auditorium. Students were handed their certificates in small, staggered groups under police surveillance, with around 40 officers stationed "preventively" in and around the school.

Eye4Palestine and other pro-Palestinian groups, in coordination with student representatives, organized a demonstration in front of Gymnasium Tiergarten on July 5 under the slogan "Stop Repression in Schools." In response, the school management declared the day a field trip day and sent all classes on excursions.