France has deported a 38-year-old German national believed to have previously been involved in far-left extremist activity ahead of the G7 summit this month.
The German national was arrested during a routine road checkpoint and deported from France on Friday after authorities suspected that he might be looking to take part in potentially violent protests during the G7 summit in Biarritz, Europe1 reports.
The 38-year-old is accused of having participated in the far-left extremist violence during the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg where far-leftists and antifa from all over Europe gathered for the “Welcome to Hell” protests that saw hundreds of police injured, cars set on fire, and local shops looted.
Muriel Ruef, the lawyer for the German man, claimed there had been no criminal proceedings against her client in Germany in relation to the G20.
Ruef said that he had, however, been in the company of activists who were against the French Cigeo project, an underground nuclear waste project set to start construction in 2022.
“A judge has been asked to verify the legality and proportionality of this measure,” Ruef said and added: “Once again we have a law that has been sold to us as a law against terrorism that is used against someone who is only a political opponent, and I do not see how that person’s behaviour is a danger.”
French authorities have also expressed concerns over the potential release of one of France’s more well-known Antifa leaders Antonin Bernanos who they fear could organise far-left extremists ahead of the G7.
Paris prosecutors have even filed appeals to keep Bernanos in prison during the G7 summit. He currently faces charges for fighting right-wing activists earlier this year and was arrested on the same day as Notre Dame cathedral caught fire in April.
The G7 summit is set to take place between August 24th and the 26th. The 38-year-old German national will be allowed to return to France on August 29th.