A British Palestinian doctor was denied entry to France for a Senate meeting about the war in Gaza

PARIS (AP) — A well-known British Palestinian surgeon who volunteered in Gaza hospitals said he was denied entry to France on Saturday to speak at a French Senate meeting about the Israel-Hamas war.

Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta was placed in a holding zone in the Charles de Gaulle airport and will be expelled, according to French Sen. Raymonde Poncet-Monge, who had invited him to speak at the Senate.

‘’It’s a disgrace,’’ Poncet-Monge posted on X.

A French official said that Abu Sitta was turned away because he is barred from entry to all Schengen zone countries based on a German request. The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to government policy, wouldn’t provide details or further information.

Abu Sitta posted on social networks that he was denied entry in France because of a one-year ban by Germany on his entry to Europe. Germany denied him entry last month, and France and Germany are part of Europe’s border-free Schengen zone. Abu Sitta posted Saturday that he was being sent back to London.

The French Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, local police and the Paris airport authority would not comment on what happened or give an explanation.

Abu Sitta had been invited by France’s left-wing Ecologists group in the Senate to speak at a colloquium Saturday about the situation in Gaza, according to the Senate press service. The gathering included testimony from medics, journalists and international legal experts with Gaza-related experience.

Last month Abu Sitta was denied entry to Germany to take part in a pro-Palestinian conference. He said he was stopped at passport control, held for several hours and then told he had to return to the U.K. He said airport police told him he was refused entry due to “the safety of the people at the conference and public order.”

Abu Sitta, who recently volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, has worked during multiple conflicts in the Palestinian territories, beginning in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising. He has also worked in other conflict zones, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

France has seen tensions related to the Mideast conflict almost daily since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas incursion into Israel. In recent days and weeks police have cleared out students at French campuses holding demonstrations and sit-ins similar to those in the United States.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

FILE - Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British surgeon specializing in conflict medicine, speaks during an interview at the Institute for Palestine Studies in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. Abu Sitta, who volunteered in Gaza hospitals, said he was denied entry to France on Saturday, May 4, 2024, to speak at a French Senate meeting about the Israel-Hamas war. Authorities wouldn't give a reason for the decision. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities closed down Munich airport temporarily on Saturday after six climate activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways, officials and local media reported.

The activists from the group Last Generation were protesting flying, the most polluting form of transportation, said the German news agency dpa.

Police have detained the six.

Incoming flights had to be diverted to other airports, an airport spokesperson said. After a couple of hours, the airport's two runways were reopened though some disruptions to flight schedules may happen, a statement on the airport’s official website said.

Last Generation posted on social media platform X, accusing the German government of “downplaying” the negative effects of flying on the environment instead of “finally acting sincerely.”

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser slammed the protests and called for them to stop. “Such criminal actions threaten air traffic and harm climate protection because they only cause lack of understanding and anger,” she wrote on X.

Fraser also applauded police efforts to bring order back to the airport and called for airport safety measures to be checked.

The general manager of the German Airports Association Ralph Beisel sharply criticized the climate activists’ actions.

“Trespassing the aviation security area is no trivial offense. Over hundreds of thousands of passengers were prevented from a relaxed and punctual start to their Pentecost holiday,” he told dpa.

Beisel also called for harsher penalties for activists who break into airports.

Climate activities blocked flights at Hamburg and Duesseldorf airports for several hours in July.

In January, Last Generation — known for gluing themselves to streets to block traffic which has infuriated many Germans — said it would abandon the tactic and move on to holding what it calls “disobedient assemblies.” Their actions have been widely criticized, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz described them as “completely nutty.”

Climate activists lie on a access road for runways at the Munich airport, Germany, Saturday, May 18, 2024. German officials and local media reported say authorities closed down Munich airport temporarily after six climate activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways. The activists from the group Last Generation were protesting flying, the most polluting form of transportation, said the German news agency dpa on Saturday. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)