In Germany, Too, Pro-Palestine Protesters Get Deported
Berlin’s city government has moved to deport four pro-Palestine protesters. Even as centrist parties warn against the far-right threat, they introduce the powers beloved by authoritarian leaders.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany, on February 5, 2025. (Halil Sagirkaya / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Germany’s political and media elite surely haven’t shied away from criticizing Donald Trump’s authoritarianism. There have been countless scathing op-eds, alongside Green Party minister Cem Özdemir denouncing “threats and challenges to the very values that make the West and democracy what they are.”
But for all the handwringing about the erosion of democratic norms across the ocean, there’s little outcry over Germany’s own rapid authoritarian turn against those who stand up for Palestinians. Parallels to the United States, where centrists also long paved the way for later right-wing crackdowns, have mostly gone ignored.
German repression of pro-Palestine activism is nothing new. Yet it has now hit a disturbing new low as Berlin’s state government moved to deport four foreign residents, including three European Union citizens, for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Berlin immigration authorities have used vague accusations of antisemitism and support of terrorism to justify moving to deport the activists, though the Intercept reports that none of the four have been convicted of crimes.