Four members of the Left party were removed from the Bundestag plenary hall on Wednesday during a debate concerning the budget of the Federal Foreign Office. The disruption occurred when the parliamentarians displayed a Palestinian flag.
Bundestag Vice-President Josephine Ortleb (SPD) also initially requested the removal of a photographer from the press gallery. The photographer, accredited to the news agency dts Nachrichtenagentur, was documenting the incident as part of their journalistic duties. The news agency lodged a formal protest regarding the removal, addressing both the Bundestag administration and Ortleb’s office.
Ortleb subsequently announced that representatives Lisa Schubert, Cansin Köktürk, Vinzenz Glaser and Charlotte Neuhäuser had been excluded from the remainder of the Wednesday session. The stated reason was a “serious breach of the dignity and order of this house”. The dts Nachrichtenagentur photographer was permitted to return to their workspace approximately thirty minutes after the initial removal.