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Another plane from Germany arrived in Afghanistan with 20 deported men on board.

The machine landed in the capital Kabul on Thursday morning, as officials at the airport told the German press agency.

It was the 38th collective deportation since the first such flight in December 2016. This means that the federal and state governments have so far returned 1,035 men to Afghanistan.

In addition to Hamburg, Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony were also involved in the deportation, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the Evangelical Press Service (epd) on Thursday in Berlin.

According to previous information from the federal states, 19 of the 20 Afghans deported were criminals.

More than 75 federal police officers were involved in the repatriation measure.

The deportation was accompanied by protests by refugee organizations on Wednesday evening at BER airport.

According to a dpa reporter, chants could be heard.

Speakers criticized the fact that deportations to Afghanistan would violate human rights.

The demonstrators put up posters calling for the deportation to be stopped.

"Asylum is a human right" or "Berlin free of deportation" read among other things.

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Some of the demonstrators also blocked access roads, another part entered the premises, according to the airport police inspection.

According to the police, 50 to 75 people were registered, but up to 350 appeared in the evening.

About 150 of them had penetrated the company premises.

The Berlin Refugee Council spoke of a total of around 500 demonstrators.

“No deportations to Afghanistan” is written on a poster for a demonstration at the former Schönefeld airport

Source: pa / dpa / dpa-Zentral / Paul Zinken

The organization criticized the procedure: "Deportations to Afghanistan mean deportations in war, misery and mortal danger," it said.

"This also applies to offenders." A double punishment through deportations is not acceptable.

Deportation flights resumed after interruption

Deportations to the crisis country Afghanistan are controversial.

Despite the start of peace talks in September, the conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban continues.

More than 100,000 civilians have been killed or injured in the past ten years.

The Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia is also active in the country.

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A deportation flight costs the German state around 15,000 euros per person - including the extensive costs for personnel and security.

In Afghanistan, the deported are usually received by officials, where they receive a small sum of money as start-up capital and are allowed to stay in a guest house for a fortnight.

After that they are on their own.

Most recently, the number of targeted killings has risen, especially in the capital Kabul.

The economy and the already weak health system in Afghanistan are also being heavily burdened by the corona pandemic.

After an interruption due to the corona pandemic, a deportation flight arrived in December for the first time since March 2020.

Since then, one flight has been carried out each month.