A group of 23 Sri Lankan Tamils were deported from a detention centre in Pforzheim, Germany on Wednesday amid noisy protests from asylum seekers and rights activists.
A large number of German Police personnel from Pforzheim surrounded the detention centre and took into custody the 23 Sri Lankan Tamils to be deported to Colombo.
When the police operation was taking place, a large number of Sri Lankan Tamils living in various parts of Germany gathered outside the detention centre to protest against the deportation, sources said.
Amnesty International activists and several other human rights organisations also joined hands with the Sri Lankan Tamils who chanted slogans along with placards to halt the deportation.
In the meantime, when police vans which were transporting the Sri Lankan Tamil detainees to the Frankfurt Airport, protestors stood on both sides of the road to prevent the vehicles from leaving the area, the sources said. The police were later compelled to use limited force to clear the paths for the vehicles transporting the Tamil detainees, the sources added.
Wednesday’s incident comes barely a month after 30 Sri Lankan Tamils were deported from a detention centre in Dusseldorf to Colombo. The Tamil detainees, described as failed asylum seekers had earlier exhausted all appeals to prevent their deportation from Germany.