Christian Oestmann and German Senator Senator Iris Spranger enemies of Free Speech
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 3:46 am
Statement by the Coordination Team for MERA25 and DiEM25 in Germany
The Berlin Senate is attempting to deport four international residents, three of whom are European citizens — Cooper Longbottom, Kasia Wlaszczyk, Shane O’Brien, and Roberta Murray — for their participation in pro-Palestine protests. None of them have been convicted of a crime. The accusations against them are flimsy, vague, and largely unsubstantiated — yet they are being targeted by the German state in a blatant act of political repression.
We name this for what it is: a fascist, authoritarian attack on fundamental democratic rights — orchestrated by Berlin’s Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger (SPD), and enforced through the Senate Department for the Interior and Sport, with the complicity of the State Office for Immigration under Engelhard Mazanke.
Internal documents now made public reveal that these deportation orders are politically motivated and were pushed through despite legal objections from within Berlin’s own immigration office. Even the head of the State Office for Immigration, Engelhard Mazanke, and his colleague Silke Buhlmann raised alarm: there were no criminal convictions, no real threat to public order, and no legal grounds to revoke EU citizens’ freedom of movement. But their concerns were overruled by Christian Oestmann of the Senate Department for the Interior, under the leadership of Senator Iris Spranger (SPD), citing so-called public order and Staatsräson — Germany’s state doctrine of support for Israel.
https://diem25.org/political-cleansing- ... aatsrason/
The political climate in Germany continues to be sick...suppression of discussion of the so-called Holocaust is now coupled with banning discussion of the extermination of Palestinians. The irony is painful
The Berlin Senate is attempting to deport four international residents, three of whom are European citizens — Cooper Longbottom, Kasia Wlaszczyk, Shane O’Brien, and Roberta Murray — for their participation in pro-Palestine protests. None of them have been convicted of a crime. The accusations against them are flimsy, vague, and largely unsubstantiated — yet they are being targeted by the German state in a blatant act of political repression.
We name this for what it is: a fascist, authoritarian attack on fundamental democratic rights — orchestrated by Berlin’s Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger (SPD), and enforced through the Senate Department for the Interior and Sport, with the complicity of the State Office for Immigration under Engelhard Mazanke.
Internal documents now made public reveal that these deportation orders are politically motivated and were pushed through despite legal objections from within Berlin’s own immigration office. Even the head of the State Office for Immigration, Engelhard Mazanke, and his colleague Silke Buhlmann raised alarm: there were no criminal convictions, no real threat to public order, and no legal grounds to revoke EU citizens’ freedom of movement. But their concerns were overruled by Christian Oestmann of the Senate Department for the Interior, under the leadership of Senator Iris Spranger (SPD), citing so-called public order and Staatsräson — Germany’s state doctrine of support for Israel.
https://diem25.org/political-cleansing- ... aatsrason/
The political climate in Germany continues to be sick...suppression of discussion of the so-called Holocaust is now coupled with banning discussion of the extermination of Palestinians. The irony is painful
