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HUNDREDS GATHERED IN Berlin this morning for a demonstration in solidarity with four city residents – including two Irish people – who face being deported for taking part in pro-Palestine protests.
Irish citizens Roberta Murray (31) and Shane O’Brien (29) are included among the four who have been singled out by authorities, despite not having been convicted of a crime.
It emerged last week that Germany was seeking to carry out the deportations, with the other foreign residents from Poland and the US.
This morning’s multilingual protest saw the Irish Tricolour alongside other flags carrying Saoirse Don Phalaistin – Irish for ‘Free Palestine’ – while other protesters chanted “Viva Palestina”, meaning long live Palestine.
They gathered in the city centre following a quickfire social media campaign over the weekend called ‘You can’t deport a movement’.
The protest was attended by members of Irish Bloc Berlin, a group formed last year in response to the war in Gaza which has criticised the “silencing of pro-Palestinian voices” by German authorities.
Protesters said three of the participants were apprehended by police as the demo neared its pre-arranged finishing time – video seen by The Journal showed these people being led away from the protest by authorities. Berlin police have been contacted for a response.
The deportation plans were first reported by US publication The Intercept.
It’s reported that the deportation orders are set to take effect in less than a month, despite none of the four people impacted having been convicted of a crime.
Academics and students in other parts of Germany have expressed solidarity with the four foreign residents, with a pro-Palestine students group in Munich saying the deportation threats were part of a “broader, alarming pattern” seen in the past 18 months amid Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.
Each of the four foreign residents face separate allegations which are tied to pro-Palestine protests in Berlin.
The only event that ties the four cases together is the allegation that they participated in the late-2024 occupation of a building at the Free University Berlin.
It is further reported that all four are accused, without evidence, of supporting Hamas.
Last week’s reports by The Intercept and +972 Magazine said that none of the four are accused of any particular acts of vandalism at the university, but rather the deportation order cites the suspicion that they took part in a coordinated group action.
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