LAHORE (Dunya News) - A pro-Palestine protestor interrupted the speech of German ambassador Alfred Grannas at a conference on civil rights on Saturday.
The ambassador was speaking at the 5th Asma Jahangir Conference in Lahore titled ‘People’s Mandate: Safeguarding Civil Rights in South Asia’.
As the ambassador started his speech, the protestor said, “Excuse me, Mr Ambassador. I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians.”
"If you want to shout, go out, there you can shout. Because shouting is not a discussion,” the ambassador said after the protestor’s interruption.
The crowd, however, applauded the protestor’s comments with voices of “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea” were heard.
After the incident, the Progressive Students Collective (PSC) said they had “exposed the hypocrisy of German ambassador” by questioning him on the role of Germany in the deaths in Gaza. It also lashed out at the conference organisers, saying they had “forcefully silenced the voices of students while platforming the facilitators of Pal[estinian] gen[ocide]”.
Also, it was alleged that the students were beaten by the organisers of the event.
“The mother of all basic human rights is the protection of human dignity as well as the inviolability of human dignity, “ Grannas resumed.
“This actually brings [Germany] in commonality with Pakistan, because there are not too many countries in the world that have an explicit guarantee of the inviolability of human dignity,” he said.
“When it comes to the role of the judiciary here, the Constitution guarantees the rights. But it’s the courts that interpret, safeguard and develop further those rights,” Grannas said.