Four EU and US citizens face deportation from Germany for their alleged participation in what authorities have called ‘violent’ pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin.

Two Irish citizens, a Polish citizen and a US citizen had their residency status abruptly terminated over their alleged involvement in ‘incidents’ at the Free University (FU) in Berlin.

The Berlin Senate Administration claims that a group of masked people ‘violently’ entered a university building during a protest in October 17, resulting in ‘significant damage’ to property, including ‘graffiti relating to the “Israel-Palestine complex”‘.

‘The individuals were extremely violent and attacked employees physically and threatened them verbally,’ the FU leadership claimed in a statement.

Police intervened to break up the march and arrested four, charged with offences including breach of the peace. None of the four EU/US citizens were accused of taking part in the vandalism.

But they were given just six weeks to leave the country or face ‘coercive government measures’ – despite not having been found guilty of a crime. 

Berlin has escalated its crackdown on political dissent since protests spilled into German streets in the wake of Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, in turn responding to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 incursion into southern Israel.

File photo. Protestors march in support of Palestinians in Berlin on November 4, 2023. Four activists face deportation for involvement in a separate protest in October 2024

Roberta Murray, a 31-year-old Irish national, said the ‘reaction of Germany, for us to be threatened with deportation because we don’t think murdering babies is OK, is outrageous’.

Murray and the other three activists – Cooper Longbottom from the U.S., Kasia Wlaszczyk from Poland, and Shane O’Brien from Ireland – have been involved in demonstrations critical of Israel since the start, the Times reports.

But matters came to a head last October, when protesters stormed and occupied the central office of the Free University of Berlin. 

Some were alleged to have sprayed slogans on the wall, damaged property with crowbars and clashed with police.

The deportation orders against the four cite a broad list of alleged behaviours, including chanting slogans, joining road blockades and calling a police officer a ‘fascist’.

Engelhard Mazanke, the local immigration authority (LEA) director, accused the activists of supporting Hamas, ‘even if only indirectly’.

Longbottom rebuked any such affiliation, saying: ‘It’s wild even to hear the question.’

The four face separate allegations from the authorities, linked only by the claim they participated in the university occupation.

File photo. People holding banners and Palestinian flags rally in Leopold Square, Berlin on Marc 22, 2025

O’Brien – accused of calling a police officer a ‘fascist’ – was brought before a criminal court in Berlin and acquitted.

The four EU/US citizens facing deportation hope to appeal the decision to remove their residence permits.

But the LEA has sought to fast-track deportation proceedings – despite the activists not having been found guilty of any criminal offence.

They have been given six weeks to leave or face ‘coercive government measures’.

Franz Mayer, professor of international law at Bielefeld University, North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Times that the decision to revoke their freedom of movement was ‘patently illegal’, a ‘scandal’ reminiscent of the 19th century.

Alexander Gorski, a lawyer representing two of the protesters, said: ‘What we’re seeing here is straight out of the far right’s playbook.

‘You can see it in the U.S. and Germany, too: Political dissent is silenced by targeting the migration status of protesters.’

A Palestinian flag is pictured during a symbolic funeral procession in solidarity with the people killed in Gaza and the West Bank, in Berlin, April 6, 2025

The tightening of free expression in Germany came in the wake of a surge in reports of anti-Semitism following the October 7 attacks and Israeli response.

Watchdog RIAS reported an 83 per cent hike in anti-Semitic ‘incidents’ – ranging from graffiti to attempted arson – in 2023.

Around half the 4,782 recorded anti-Semitic incidents were linked with anti-Israel activism, with many involving a relativisation or denial of the Nazi Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed, RIAS said.

But critics warn the German government risks overreach with excessive measures that attack free expression and subvert the principle of presumed innocence.

Gorski, the lawyer, told Berlin-based journalist Hanno Hauenstein that in similar cases, migration law was being used against people of Arab or Palestinian descent, triggered by as little as a like or a comment on social media.

Under German migration law, authorities do not require a criminal conviction to go down the route of deportation.

Such moves set an unnerving precedent against the rise of the far-right AfD party – now polling level with Germany’s centre-right parties.

People, holding banners and Palestinian flags, gather in Leopold Square to demonstrate support for Palestine in Berlin, Germany on March 22, 2025

The independent Human Rights Research Center warned last month that a ‘disturbing pattern’ of ‘suppressing’ protest was emerging in Germany.

It noted a ‘particularly alarming case’ in April last year, when authorities raided an event organised by Jewish Voices for Peach, DiEM25 and various civil rights groups at the Palestine Congress.

Police cut off electricity, confiscated microphones and detained participants, HRRC noted.

‘The heavy-handed response sent a chilling message- that any criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza is being equated with anti-Semitism in Germany.’