Germany bars doctor who worked in Gaza, shuts down Palestinian conference
A prominent British Palestinian doctor was said he was “forcibly prevented” from entering Germany on Friday, with the Palestinian solidarity conference he was due slated to speak at shut down by police who detained dozens of activists in the process. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive plastic surgeon who spent 43 days tending to the wounded in Gaza City last year, said that he was questioned for three hours at Berlin’s airport before being told he was not allowed to enter the country. He said he had also been informed he was not allowed to record any videos that could be shown in events in Germany this month. “Today we saw how accomplices in a crime behave,” Abu Sitta said at a demonstration at the German embassy in London after arriving back in Britain, referring to Berlin’s support of Israel’s war. “Accomplices in a crime try to hide the evidence and silence the witnesses.” Germany’s interior ministry did not respond to emails requesting comment. The pro-Palestinian conference at which Abu Sitta was due to speak was broken up by police shortly after he was turned back at immigration. It accuses Germany of being complicit in “Israeli apartheid and genocide” on its website and was scheduled to include speakers such as former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and Irish politician Richard Boyd Barrett, both known for their Palestinian activism.
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