German ambassador to Pakistan Alfred Grannas’ speech was interrupted on here Saturday by a pro-Palestine protester, who asked why he was speaking on civil rights when his own country is violating it.

Ambassador Alfred Grannas was speaking at the 5th Asma Jahangir Conference titled People’s Mandate: Safeguarding Civil Rights in South Asia at a local hotel here in the capital city of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Moments after the ambassador began his speech, a young man rose from his seat and started shouting: “Excuse me, Mr Ambassador. I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians.”

His comments drew cheer from the other participants with chants of “Free, Free Palestine”, with many of them rising from their seats in support of the pro-Palestine protester.

As the protester was shouting, the ambassador appeared to be losing his temper as he said, “If you want to shout, go out, there you can shout. Because shouting is not a discussion.”

Live streaming of Grannas’ speech was suspended till the organisers managed to take the young man out of the hall. The protester was later identified as a varsity student belonging to the Progressive Students’ Collective (PSC) and was accompanied by some other students from the same organisation.

The PSC soon after posted on its official X handle: “PSC exposed the hypocrisy of German Ambassador questioning him on the role of Germany in Palestinian Genocide. The organisers of AJ Conf forcefully silenced the voices of students while platforming the facilitators of Pal Gen. #Ajconference #FreePalestine #germanambassador”

The first edition of the Asma Jahangir Conference was held in 2018, following the death of renowned lawyer and human rights champion Asma Jahangir.