ABSTRACT
The decision by the German government in 2016 to resume summary deportations to Afghanistan sparked a series of protests in which thousands of Afghans, mostly asylum seekers with a precarious legal status, organized marches, sit-ins and petitions in the German capital. This chapter traces the interactive dynamics leading to temporary mass protests despite contexts of marginalization of a group which has previously mostly abstained from contentious action. The chapter documents the role of Afghan diaspora and migrant support groups in Berlin in providing spaces of encounter and trust building. In these spaces, and in the context of an existential threat for precarious migrants at risk of deportation, a deeply ingrained fear and internal cleavages within the Afghan exile community could be temporarily overcome.
