Shane O’Brien addresses 400 demonstrators in Berlin as lawyers prepare to file emergency motions over deportation order
Berlin – Irishman Shane O’Brien has described moves to remove him and other pro-Palestine campaigners from Germany as a “distraction” from the country’s problematic stance on Israel and Gaza.
About 400 demonstrators gathered early on Monday morning near Berlin’s state parliament to protest against the orders against O’Brien (29), resident in Berlin along with fellow Irish citizen Bert Murray (31), and a Polish and US citizen.
O’Brien and Murray were issued with deportation orders last month and instructed to leave Germany before April 21st after facing charges over alleged actions at pro-Palestinian protests.
Lawyers working on their case have raised concerns that the deportation orders undermine civil liberties for EU citizens living in Germany, as neither have been convicted of any criminal offences in the German courts.
O’Brien and Murray have been attending protests in support of Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023.
On Monday’s protest, to cheers of “Free, Free Palestine” and “Israel is a terror state/Germany is a fascist state”, demonstrators cheered the so-called “Berlin Four” as well as speakers from a broad coalition of pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist groups.
O’Brien described the order against him as “not worth the paper it is written on” and a “pathetic and feeble attempt to intimidate those who stand up against the genocide”.
To Berlin’s governing mayor Kai Wegner, believed by many to be behind the order, Shane O’Brien told the crowd: “Your disgusting and insidious attempts to discredit us and to vilify Palestinian solidarity is weak and all it achieves is to expose the absurdity of this country and the disgusting racism and white supremacy rooted at the core of German politics.”
To demonstrators and passersby, he added: “It is time for every person of conscience to escalate. If you are not actively resisting the genocide you are complicit.”
His speech was greeted with enthusiastic applause by German and Irish listeners. For 82 year-old Barbara, the orders against O’Brien and three others showed that postwar Germany’s efforts to balance human rights with the defence of Israel and Jewish life had “imploded”.
“These outrageous manoeuvres violate the Basic Law (constitution), how can we speak of freedom of speech and assembly if these people are deported,” she said. “All criticism of Israel here is suppressed.”
For Clondalkin man Seán, living in Berlin for 10 years, the removal orders were a “shocking, brutal response” to pro-Palestinian solidarity demonstrations in the last 17 months in the German capital.
“It makes you question everything: how you’re living here, paying taxes here,” he added
Lawyers for the four are expected to file emergency motions on Monday to halt the planned removals and deportations.
Berlin authorities have moved to rescind the EU freedom of movement of O’Brien and Murray, citing security risks and repeated conflict with police at pro-Palestine demonstrations. Though both are under investigation, neither have any convictions.
At the Monday gathering a series of German and Palestinian speakers expressed support with the four, describing them as “victims of prejudgement and breaches of the law and a setting aside of the separation of power”.
Others warned that the orders were intended to have a chilling effect against protest and were a “door-opener for more”.
“Everyone in Germany should be afraid of where things are going,” said one.
Anti-Zionist activist Rachel Shapiro expressed concern that Berlin’s actions carried echoes of a series of US deportations of pro-Palestinian campaigners.
“We will not allow our friends to be deported for expressing dissent to the German state’s murderous militarism and genocidal bloodlust,” she said.
“While this may be the first time that EU and US citizens have been targeted in this way, our Palestinian, Arab and Muslim comrades and their communities have been the subject of mass repressions for months, years and decades.”
BY: The Times Union
