Protesters rally at seven German airports over Afghan asylum deportations
Germany’s federal government has faced widespread protests from migrant rights groups as it continues its deportation plans, particularly targeting Afghan nationals. On Saturday, 24 October, these groups staged demonstrations at seven major German airports, including Leipzig/Halle, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Dusseldorf, Hanover and Berlin.
The protesters said the rallies were a response to charter flights carrying Afghan asylum seekers back to Kabul, operations that have been carried out repeatedly in recent months from Leipzig airport and have drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups. Luca Mueller, a spokesman for the organising coalition, questioned Germany’s cooperation with the Taliban authorities in the deportation process and said airlines were profiting from the operation while the lives and safety of asylum seekers were being put at risk.
The protests criticised mass detentions of migrants for deportation and the expansion of detention centres, and also challenged the government’s budget allocations. The demonstrators stressed that while defenders of social and health services have limited funding, large sums are being spent on deportation procedures and the development of related infrastructure.
The protests come as Germany has widened the scope of deportations of Afghan asylum seekers, no longer limiting them to people with criminal records. German domestic media have also pointed to Berlin’s cooperation with the Taliban to facilitate deportations, reporting that the entry of Taliban diplomats into the country has been eased to make it simpler to issue travel documents for asylum seekers.
