Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Large police presence ends resistance to deportation
Special police forces arrived in the morning with a battering ram and chainsaw. photo
© Bernd Wüstneck/dpa
Two young men are to be deported. It turns out they belong to an Afghan family who received church asylum. She resists the police attack, but is eventually overpowered.
After about four hours of trying to keep in touch with the family and get them to open the door, emergency services finally entered the apartment “with simple physical force,” said the police spokeswoman. It was discovered that the 22-year-old had probably injured himself with a piece of glass. The mother was in an exceptional psychological state. Both were taken to hospital in an ambulance that was waiting.
“When everyone was searched, knives were found hidden on the bodies of the mother, the 22-year-old son and the daughter,” the police said after the operation was completed. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against the 47-year-old mother for threats and coercion. No other people or emergency services were injured during the operation. There was never any danger to outsiders. Special police forces arrived in the morning with a battering ram and chainsaw. But the equipment was not used, it was said.
Men were to be taken to Spain
According to a spokesman for the Northern Church, it was a family of six from Afghanistan whose two adult sons were to be deported. This was done on the orders of the immigration authorities in Kiel. According to the information, both were supposed to be brought to Spain. There they entered the EU. According to a church spokesman, the family was staying in an apartment on the edge of a prefabricated housing area in Schwerin, which is provided by the local parish for refugees.
The police had initially spoken of two Iraqi men who were to be deported, but then corrected this. According to authorities, in addition to the mother and the 22 and 18-year-old sons, the family also includes the 49-year-old father, a 13-year-old daughter and a ten-year-old son. All people have Afghan nationality.
As a resident reported, two radio patrol cars drove up to the community center that morning. Shortly afterwards, loud screams from a woman were heard. According to the police, she tried to prevent the two young men from being deported. The police spokeswoman was initially unable to say whether this would happen later in the day.
Refugee Council criticizes
The Refugee Council spoke of a frightening signal to refugees. “They are not allowed to feel safe even at Christmas. This signal is also aimed at church communities who are now unsure whether they can continue to offer refugees refuge and hope,” the message continued. A spokeswoman also complained that the administrative assistance operation was apparently based on false information, as Iraqis were initially mentioned.
Church asylum refers to the temporary admission of refugees in church premises who are at risk of life and limb or violations of their human rights if they are deported. Such cases were more common in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania this year than in the recent past. By the end of November there were 25 people nationwide, as the Northern Church announced. A higher figure was last reached in 2018, when 51 people were granted church asylum in the northeast. In 2022 there were ten, in the two years before that there were 21 and seven.