Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, head of the European Realist Non-Aligned Front (MeRA25), which has nine seats in the Greek parliament, was banned from speaking in Germany because of his views on Palestine. Varoufakis is barred from speaking at any event via video conference on German territory.
The former minister was invited to participate in a pro-Palestinian congress scheduled to begin on Friday, which was interrupted by German police, who made three arrests in the process.
In addition to Waroufakis, British-Palestinian surgeon Ghazan Abu Sidda, rector of the University of Glasgow, and Palestinian historian Salman Abu Sidda are also targets of the same ban.
The Greek economist-turned-politician announced the ban on social networking site X (formerly Twitter), where he took the opportunity to leave a link to his speech to Congress.
“The German Ministry of the Interior issued a 'Betätigungsverbot' Against me, ban on all political activities”, he wrote. “It's not just a ban on travel to Germany, but it extends to participation via Zoom.” who carries connection When you try to read the speech, you encounter an error message. But this is what is available on YouTube.
Organizers of the conference, which called for demonstrations against the authorities' actions on Saturday, issued a statement this Sunday in which they accused the German government of “aiding and abetting Israeli genocide” in Gaza. With Israel's “right to self-defense”, at the same time “Palestinians are denied any rights, they have been deprived of their rights and expelled for 76 years”.
The organizers announced that the convention (which was supposed to be held from Friday to Sunday) would be held on Sunday only and only ticket holders would be admitted. The organization said that 850 tickets have been sold. In the morning, they broadcast live via Zoom from the Berlin conference court.
“Germany is the second-largest supplier of weapons of mass destruction,” vindicates Congress: “From October 2023, the Federal Security Council, Olaf Scholes, Wolfgang Schmidt, Annalena Baerbach, Boris Pistorius, Christian Lindner, Nancy Fassken, Marco Bushner Robert Habeck and Svenja Schulz, et al. Members Karsten Breuer, Torte Tinker, Steffen Hebstreit and Günter Satter increased arms supplies to Israel tenfold.”
The #Palestine conference Beaten and banned by the police.
But we will not be silent!Come to Neptunbrunnen in Berlin at 2pm to protest against the ban on the Palestinian Congress! ???? #We blame Germany pic.twitter.com/FJD3bTQEjQ
— Palestine Congress (@wirklagenan) April 13, 2024
Last week, as part of a case filed by Nicaragua at the United Nations International Court of Justice, Germany denied that it was “aiding genocide in Gaza” by selling arms to Israel. But the truth is that Germany sent a total of 326.5 million euros in military equipment and weapons to Israel in 2023, according to data from the German Ministry of Economy.
On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Fasser, justifying the cancellation of the congress, praised the police work: “It is good that the Berlin police announced a strong crackdown on the so-called Palestinian Congress in Berlin. We follow the Islamic scene very closely.
The police presence around the Congress venue in Berlin was lavish, with more than 900 police officers stationed and numerous barricades restricting circulation. Berlin's police force was reinforced by officers from North Rhine-Westphalia Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Authorities classified the event as a demonstration, imposing the same kind of restrictions routinely imposed on pro-Palestinian protests.
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