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KCDK-E
GERMAN authorities have launched a further crackdown on progressive groups after it banned the congress of a leading Kurdish umbrella organisation on security grounds.
The Fourth Congress of the Democratic Society of Kurdistan in Europe (KCDK-E) was due to take place today but organisers were told by Cologne police in a phone call on Friday that it could not go ahead.
The reason given for the ban was that “200 high-ranking PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] officials” were said to be attending the conference.
The ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was based on evidence of a pattern of violence and hatred targeting Arabs and Muslims, two communities that have a large population in Birmingham — overturning the ban was tacit acceptance of the genocidal ideology the fans espouse, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
The decision highlights the tension between freedom of expression and the state’s role in shaping historical memory at former concentration camps, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
