The demonstrators demonstrate in Berlin against the possible deportation of four foreign pro-Palestinian activists from Germany on April 7. The four, including two from Ireland, one in Poland and one of the United States, are faced with the order to allow their participation in a demonstration in the free university of Berlin last year concerning the invasion of Gaza by Israel. The city authorities ordered the four to leave Germany or to face expulsion.
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London – The Berlin immigration office told three citizens of the European Union and an American that they were to be expelled from Germany this week for actions presumed during demonstrations against the War of Israel in Gaza. Their business has not yet been heard in court.
The four demonstrators – two from Ireland, one from Poland and one of the United States – were served with orders last month, asking them to leave Germany by April 21 or to be expelled. The Berlin immigration office indicates that expulsion orders are linked to a free university demonstration in Berlin in October 2024.
Germany’s push to expel the demonstrators supporting the Palestinians has established comparisons with the Trump administration handling Pro-Palestinian student demonstrators in the United States, it is worrying that by restricting the freedom of movement of the three EU citizens, these deportation orders can compete with the law of the EU, which consecrates freedom as a founding principle.
In an email in NPR, a spokesperson for the Berlin immigration office, Marcus Jähnke, confirmed that he had revoked the residence permits of four “pro-Palestinian activists” and it was “in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest” where “masked individuals” entered a university building and caused “material damage including graffiti”.
The Berlin Senate department for the interior and sport, which is responsible for the city’s immigration office, said at NPR in a press release that Criminal procedures are still “underway” but have not said what individuals are accused and said that he would not comment more, citing “reasons of confidentiality”.
Alexander Gorski, lawyer for criminal defense and migration in Berlin Representing some of the demonstrators, says they call on the obligation to leave Germany by the deadline of April 21.
Irish citizen Shane O’Brien has already received a emergency injunction On break his expulsion and allowing him to stay in Germany to a complete hearing in his case. Gorski says he is convinced that the other three demonstrators will receive the same thing – allowing them to stay in Germany to call on their deportations.
Those who were served with expulsion orders say they have no information on the costs
Roberta Murray, a 31 -year -old artist from Ireland who works in a cafe in Berlin, is the other Irish citizen threatened with expulsion. Murray told NPR by phone that they were in the middle of a supermarket when they first heard their lawyer for the expulsion order in January. A letter from the Berlin immigration office informed Murray of the Bureau’s intention to end the freedom of movement in Murray within the EU.
Murray has lived in Berlin for three years and has no criminal conviction. As a citizen of the EU, Murray has the right to settle and work anywhere in the European Union.
“I spoke to my lawyer and she said that the deportation can take a few years and that we fight it in court,” said Murray.
In March, Murray received another much longer letter from Berlin Berlin Immigration.
The letter, which NPR has examined, reads as follows: “If you do not voluntarily leave the country by April 21, you are by this threatened with expulsion to Ireland.”
Cooper Longbottom, a 27 -year -old student from Seattle who studies for a master’s degree in social work in Berlin, received the same letter.
“I did not expect it to happen that way,” said Longbottom. “I had not obtained charges by post. It is just a complete mess and not how the order of criminal law and regular procedure is supposed to go.”
Murray and Longbottom continue to work and study in Berlin while they use the expulsion notice. They say they have no intention of leaving.
“I live here with my partner. I work in a cafe. I make art here. I have a studio,” explains Murray. “None of us plan to leave. We all feel very provocative and confident that this will not go through the legal system.”
While the Berlin authorities cite criminal procedures against them, their lawyer Gorski says that none has been sentenced by criminal and has not received justice dates or other information on the accusations against them.
“We haven’t even seen the files yet,” said Gorski, “so we don’t even know what our individual customers are accused of doing that day.”
The fourth demonstrator confronted with a possible expulsion, the Polish citizen Kasia Wlaszczyk, received the same letters. In an opinion article in the Tutor The newspaper, Wlaszczyk, a cultural worker based in Berlin, wrote that they file a request for provisional compensation against the deadline of April 21 and filed a complaint against expulsion.
Germany Staatsräson and responsibility to Israel
The second letter sent to Murray quotes the concept of Staatsräson As part of the eviction reasons.
The letter indicates: “The right of Israel to exist, its protection and the integrity of the State of Israel are questions of politics of the German State” and that this is “particularly important given the historical responsibility of Germany towards the Jewish people in its federal territory and in the State of Israel”.
This adds only “at any time – whether national or abroad – should there be doubts that the movements opposed within Germany will be tolerated in any way”.
Gorski says that it was the first time he saw the idea used to justify the expulsion.
“It is very disturbing because the StaatsräsonThis means that the unconditional solidarity of Germany with the Israeli State is not a legal concept, it is a political concept, “says Gorski.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany said that it supported the expected expulsion of the demonstrators.
Irish Taoiseach or Prime Minister Micheál Martin says parliament He would raise the case of Irish nationals with the German authorities.
Longbottom, the American student, says that no one from the Trump administration has yet been in contact with their case. In response to the request for NPR comments, the State Department declared in a written declaration of the press office: “We are aware of the reports of an American citizen faced with a possible export of Germany. The ministry has no higher priority than the security and security of American citizens abroad.”
Michele Kelemen contributed to this Washington report, DC
