Protests in Germany over forced deportations of Afghan asylum seekers and cooperation with Taliban
A number of Afghan asylum seekers and German residents protested on Saturday at airports in several German cities, including Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Bielefeld, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Hanover and Berlin, against the policy of forcibly deporting asylum seekers. They stressed the immediate suspension of the forced return of asylum seekers to Afghanistan and called for an end to the German government’s cooperation with the Taliban on the issue.
The protesters warned that portraying asylum seekers as the cause of social problems and spreading racist propaganda could increase the grounds for discrimination and their exclusion. The organisers of the campaign, held under the slogan “Together against the wave of forced deportations of asylum seekers,” stressed the need to uphold the right to asylum and respect human rights.
Criticism has also been directed at the creation of special deportation terminals and detention centres for asylum seekers, while the German government has cut funding for social sectors and healthcare services. This comes after it was previously announced that by the end of 2028, a “return terminal” would be built at Munich airport to facilitate the deportation process.
Luca Müller, spokesman for the coalition behind the protests, described the German government’s cooperation with the Taliban to deport asylum seekers as a “political scandal.” Nasima Haidari, one of the asylum seekers present in Leipzig, called the measures a violation of human rights and said no asylum seeker should be returned to a country where their safety and dignity are not guaranteed.
Sina Reich, a spokesman for the coalition, referring to the history of the right to asylum after World War II, said protecting this right is considered an important lesson from the Holocaust. Protests in Munich, which have been ongoing for several months, were also held with the participation of about 600 people against the construction of the special deportation terminal.
These protests come as the German government and several European countries have expanded cooperation with the Taliban administration to return asylum seekers with criminal records and rejected asylum claims, a move that has raised serious concerns about its human rights and security consequences.
