Germany deports Afghan nationals for first time since 2021 as key state elections loom

Germany has deported Afghan nationals today back to their home country for the first time since August 2021, when the Taliban returned to power.

28 people were deported.

Steffen Hebestreit, the German government spokesperson, described the Afghan nationals as convicted criminals, the Associated Press reported.

The deportations came a week after a deadly knife attack in Solingen where the suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum and reportedly disappeared and avoided deportation.

Germany does not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban.

The move to resume the return of Afghans comes ahead of closely-watched elections on Sunday in Saxony and Thuringia.

Key events

Sahra Wagenknecht was sprayed with a red liquid during a campaign event yesterday in Erfurt.

A man was immediately pushed to the ground by security forces and taken away, the Associated Press reported.

Wagenknecht, a high-profile politician who left the far-left Die Linke and set up her own party, wrote on the social media that she was scared but fine.

Her eight-month-old party, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance), blends scepticism about migration, opposition to Nato, backing for high taxes on the rich and resistance to military aid for Ukraine.

Polls indicate the BSW could find itself in the role of kingmaker in German states holding elections this month.

Sahra Wagenknecht (2nd R), who leads the leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), reacts as a coloured substance is thrown at her during a speech while campaigning ahead of Thuringia state elections on August 29, 2024 in Erfurt, Germany. Photograph: Jens Schlueter/Getty Images

Bodyguards take away a man who allegedly carried out an attack with red paint at an election campaign event organized by the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) on Cathedral Square, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. Photograph: Martin Schutt/AP

Amnesty International’s Germany office has responded to the deportation of Afghan nationals to their home country, writing that no one is safe in Afghanistan.

Rechtsstaat heißt auch, sich ans Völkerrecht zu halten. Außergerichtliche Hinrichtungen, Verschwindenlassen & Folter sind in #Afghanistan an der Tagesordnung. Niemand ist dort sicher. Schiebt die Bundesregierung trotzdem ab, riskiert sie, sich zur Komplizin der Taliban zu machen https://t.co/djULQwL1sR

— Amnesty Deutschland (@amnesty_de) August 30, 2024

In Saxony, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is in the lead, according to the latest opinion poll.

Ahead of elections this weekend, the far-right AfD is leading in Thuringia, according to the latest opinion polling.

Deborah Cole

Germany to harden weapons laws and asylum rules after Solingen stabbing

Germany’s fractious coalition government announced on Thursday a hard-fought compromise on changes to weapons laws and asylum rules designed to prevent Islamist attacks such as last Friday’s mass stabbing that left three people dead.

Days before key state elections in which each of the ruling parties risk heavy losses to the far right, government ministers said the knife rampage allegedly by a Syrian asylum seeker at a street festival in the western city of Solingen had exposed critical weaknesses in the country’s immigration and security policy.

“The Solingen attack shook us to our core and we said that we as a government would react to it with tough measures,” said the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, a Social Democrat.

She said the government would ban the carrying of knives at public events including street festivals like the scene of the Solingen attack, and on long-distance public transportation such as trains and buses.

Federal police will be given the power to impose spot checks for weapons including long knives in “heavy crime” areas such as railway stations. Police officers will be able to use stun guns to stop violent suspects.

The measures also call for the swifter deportation of refused asylum seekers and the removal of financial benefits for those who have already been registered in another EU member country.

Read the full story here.