The World from Berlin: Banning Salafists 'Won't Solve Social Problems'
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: German authorities carried out a major crackdown on radical Salafist Muslims on Thursday, raiding properties and banning an organization. German media commentators welcome the moves but warn that bans aren't enough to change how extremists think.

The debate on Salafists, members of a fundamentalist strain of Islam who are suspected of having close ties to Islamist extremists, has been raging in Germany for months. Following a number of recent violent incidents, including the stabbing of police officers in Bonn, there have been growing calls for the government to act.

On Thursday, it did just that. In an operation involving 1,000 officers, authorities raided Salafist facilities in seven German states. They also banned one of the most important Salafist groups in the country, the Millatu Ibrahim.

"The organization acts in opposition to the idea of constitutional order and multicultural understanding," German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said on Thursday. He added that the group promotes violence in its "fight against the existing constitutional order."

The German government considers Salafists to be particularly dangerous and prone to violence, primarily because of their single-minded goal of establishing Sharia in Germany and their rejection of Western values. They have been in the headlines all spring, initially because of their drive to attract new members by handing out free copies of the Koran in major German cities. But it was their violent response to a campaign in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia that landed them in the spotlight of justice officials.

In early May, the Islamophobic mini-party Pro-NRW launched a campaign to display anti-Islam caricatures in front of mosques and other Muslim facilities in North Rhine-Westphalia ahead of elections in the state. Counter-demonstrations in both Solingen and Bonn turned violent, with Salafists attacking police with rocks, sticks and even knives. In Bonn, 29 police were injured, two of them landing in the hospital with stab wounds.

On Friday, German commentators welcome the action but warn that more needs to be done. » | David Gordon Smith | Friday, June 15, 2012

Related here, here, here, here, and here

British Suspected Islamic Terrorist Arrested in Germany
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A major German security operation targeted "dangerous" Islamist extremists in dawn raids by 850 police officers on 70 mosques, schools and homes across Germany.

Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany's interior minister, banned one Salafist network, Millatu Ibrahim, for "working against our constitutional order and against understanding between peoples".

He also announced an investigation into two other networks, Dawa FFM and "The True Religion", with a view to a seeking additional bans.

"We are ready to defend freedom and fundamental rights in this country and I hope this is understood by those who are of a different opinion," he said.

The Daily Telegraph understands that the raids followed a discussion of the risk posed by a pan-European network of Salafist Islamists at an EU meeting of interior ministers, including Theresa May, the Home Secretary, last week.

Last month, the G6 group of interior ministers from the EU's biggest countries met in Munich to discuss "suspicious patterns of movement". » | Bruno Waterfield, Berlin | Thursday, June 14, 2012

Verbunden »

Islamismus in Deutschland: Innenminister Friedrich verbietet Salafistenverein
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die deutschen Behörden greifen hart gegen Islamisten durch. Innenminister Friedrich hat erstmals einen salafistischen Verein verboten, weitere Gruppen sind im Visier der Ermittler. Wichtige Protagonisten der Szene verlieren damit eine bedeutende Propagandaplattform.

Berlin - Salafisten in Deutschland haben bei ihrem Vorhaben, neue Anhänger zu gewinnen, eine bedeutende Plattform verloren. Am Donnerstag hat Innenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich (CSU) einen wichtigen salafistischen Verein verboten. Es handelt sich um das Netzwerk "Millatu Ibrahim" - es ist das erste Mal, dass ein salafistischer Verein zwangsaufgelöst wird. Gegen zwei weitere salafistische Gruppierungen, "Dawa FFM" und "Die Wahre Religion", wurden vereinsrechtliche Ermittlungsverfahren eingeleitet. Zuvor hatten Ermittler eine Großrazzia gegen die drei Vereine durchgeführt. Es ist die größte Aktion gegen Salafisten in der [Bundesrepublik ?][.]

Die Organisation "Millatu Ibrahim" richtet sich "gegen den Gedanken der verfassungsrechtlichen Ordnung und der Völkerverständigung", sagte Friedrich. Laut dem Innenministerium rufe "Millatu Ibrahim" zum Kampf "gegen unsere freiheitlich demokratische Grundordnung" auf.

"Die aggressiv kämpferische Grundhaltung der Vereinigung manifestiert sich in der Beförderung und Inkaufnahme strafrechtswidrigen Verhaltens, einschließlich des Einsatzes von Gewalt als Mittel im Kampf gegen die bestehende verfassungsgemäße Ordnung" ", sagte Friedrich. Dies belegten exemplarisch die gewaltsamen Ausschreitungen Anfang Mai 2012 in Solingen und Bonn. "Millatu Ibrahim hat diese in sogenannten Kampfvideos legitimiert und zu weiteren Gewalttaten aufgerufen", erklärte der Innenminister. Die Organisation werde nun aufgelöst, ihr Vermögen beschlagnahmt. » | Von Anna Reimann | Donnerstag, 14. Juni 2012


REUTERS.COM: German police raid scores of radical Islamists' homes: About 1,000 police raided scores of buildings across Germany on Thursday in a clampdown on radical Salafist Islamists suspected of plotting against the state. ¶ German officials fear the Salafists, who trace their roots to Saudi Arabiaand want to establish Sharia (Islamic) law in Europe, are fuelling militancy among a small minority of socially alienated young Muslims in Germany. ¶ Announcing the crackdown, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said he had banned one of the Salafists' groups called the Millatu Ibrahim and said the raids may unearth evidence that would allow the outlawing of two other associations. » | Sabine Siebold | BERLIN | Thursday, June 14, 2012

Extremists vs. Extremists: Salafists and Right-Wing Populists Battle in Bonn

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Germany's right-wing populists are fond of insulting Islam in order to attract attention. On Saturday, violence prone Salafists took the bait, resulting in a riot that left 29 police injured. Despite the clash, however, the anti-Islam party can continue to display their anti-Islam caricatures, a court has decided.

It was clear from the start that the tiny, right-wing populist group Pro-NRW would stop at nothing to attract attention in the run-up to state elections in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia this Sunday. With Salafists in the state now reacting violently to Pro-NRW's inflammatory parading of Muhammad caricatures in front of Muslim establishments, the splinter party appears to have gotten its wish.

On Saturday, violence flared anew when Salafists attacked police protecting a Pro-NRW demonstration in front of a Saudi Arabian school in Bonn. Twenty-nine officers were wounded, two of them having been stabbed, and more than 100 people were arrested. On Monday, a 25-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder in the knife attacks.

Ralf Jäger, interior minister for the state, promised that there would be "severe consequences," adding that he would "join the federal government in exploring all legal possibilities for countering these extremists." The police president in Bonn, Ursula Brohl-Sowa, spoke of an "explosion of violence like we haven't seen for some time."

The Pro-NRW march in Bonn consisted of just over two dozen people, but some 500 to 600 counter-demonstrators also gathered, including, according to police estimates, some 200 Salafists who had travelled to Bonn from across the country. Several hundred police were also present to keep the two groups separated. » | Charles Hawley | Monday, May 07, 2012

Related »

Merkel Ally Says Islam Not Part of Germany
REUTERS.COM: A leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives said on Thursday that Islam did not belong to Germany, remarks sure to stir controversy as the government hosts a conference to improve the integration of Muslims.

A row over whether an ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim group should be allowed to hand out millions of free German translations of the Koran to non-Muslims had already raised tensions and threatened to overshadow the conference.

"Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and so does not belong to Germany," Volker Kauder, head of Merkel's conservative bloc in parliament, told the Passauer Neue Presse.
"But Muslims belong to Germany. As state citizens, of course, they enjoy their full rights." » | Reuters | BERLIN | Thursday, April 19, 2012

Verwandt »

Muslims in Germany: Study Hints that Mutual Suspicion Is Slowing Integration

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A new integration study released on Thursday has triggered yet another debate about the role of Islam in Germany. The report found that a surprising number of non-German Muslims are skeptical about integrating into society. But the country's own doubts about immigration may have muddied the data.

Hardly a year goes by without the eruption of yet another chapter in Germany's ongoing debate about integration. Do immigrants feel at home in Germany? Are they willing to identify with and become part of the culture? And, most pressing, do Muslims fit in or are they more inclined to view German and Western culture with deep skepticism?

This year's discussion was kicked off on Thursday with the publication of a study carried out by Germany's Interior Ministry, which sought to gauge how Muslims living in the country view German culture and their attitudes to integration. The result? A significant minority encompassing 20 percent of Muslims in the country are skeptical when it comes to integration.
Perhaps more concerning, among Muslims in the age group between 14 and 32, "there exists a subgroup that could be described as 'strictly religious' with strong antipathy to the West, a tendential acceptance of violence and no willingness to integrate,'" the study says. Among Muslims with German citizenship, this group encompasses 15 percent, among non-citizens, it is 24 percent.

"Germany respects the origins and cultural identities of its immigrants," Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in a statement accompanying the study. "But we do not accept the import of authoritarian, anti-democratic and fanatically religious views. Those who reject freedom and democracy have no future here." » | Charles Hawley | Thursday, March 01, 2012

DEUTSCHLANDRADIO – AUDIO: Integrationsstudie sorgt für Wirbel: Innenminister Hans-Peter Friedrich hat mit einer Studie zum Integrationswillen junger Muslime eine Debatte ausgelöst. Der CSU-Politiker zeigte sich besorgt über die "überraschend hohe" Zahl integrationsunwilliger Muslime in Deutschland. » | Donnerstag, 01. März 2012

Germany Teaches Islamic Theology
ON ISLAM: TUEBINGEN, Germany – One of Germany's oldest university [sic] has opened the country's first department of Islamic theology to educate a new generation of enlightened Muslim preachers, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.

“Religion needs to be thought through,” Education Minister Annette Schavan, who is herself a graduate in Catholic theology, said.

Opening the theology department at Tuebingen University, Schavan said the department was a “milestone for integration” of Muslims who make up 5 percent of the population.

The course, to start at the University of Tu[e]bingen, will offer bachelor programs in Islamic studies.

Students will be offered advanced Western academic qualifications.

Though the teaching will be conducted in German, Arabic, the language of the Qur’an, will be a compulsory subject.

The three professors at the department had to satisfy an Islamic advisory council that they were devout Muslims.

Tu[e]bingen department is one of four new centers in Germany dedicated to the study of Islamic theology.

Tuebingen, a public university where tuition is free, is one of Europe’s leading centers of academic Christian theology. » | OnIslam & News Agencies | Tuesday, January 17, 2012

WIKI: Tübingen University »

Germany Attempts to Silence Criticism of Islam
STONEGATE INSTITUTE: German authorities have officially confirmed that they are monitoring German-language Internet websites that are critical of Muslim immigration and the Islamization of Europe.

According to Manfred Murck, director of the Hamburg branch of the German domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), his organization is studying whether German citizens who criticize Muslims and Islam on the Internet are fomenting hate and are thus criminally guilty of "breaching" the German constitution.

The BfV's move marks a significant setback for the exercise of free speech in Germany and comes amid a months-long smear campaign led by a triple alliance of leftwing German multicultural elites, sundry Muslim groups and members of the mainstream media, who have been relentless in their efforts to discredit the so-called counter-jihad movement (also known as the "Islamophobes") in Germany.

Opinion polls show that growing numbers of ordinary German citizens are worried about the consequences of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged mass immigration from Muslim countries.

Germans are especially concerned about the refusal of millions of Muslim immigrants to integrate into German society, as well as the emergence of a parallel legal system in Germany based on Islamic Sharia law.

In an effort to reverse this tide of public opinion, the guardians of German multiculturalism have been working overtime to regain the initiative by accusing the critics of Islam of engaging in hate speech to try to intimidate the so-called "new right" into silence.

The media campaign has been led by two financially troubled newspapers, the Berliner Zeitung and its sister publication, the Frankfurter Rundschau, as well as Der Spiegel, a leftwing magazine based in Hamburg that has long served as the mouthpiece for German multiculturalism.

In a January 4, 2012 interview with the Berliner Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau, Murck said the owners of anti-Islam blogs "have a disturbed relationship to the democratic constitutional state" and often promote "infringements of human rights protected under our constitution."

Murck continued: "I also see evidence of criminal relevance, such as making threats and public invitations to crime." He said criticism of Muslims and Islam constitutes "an attack against the freedom of religion, which is protected by Article 4 of the Basic Law."

PI's motto reads "Against the Mainstream, Pro-American, Pro-Israel, Against the Islamization of Europe" which encapsulates everything the German left abhors. » | Soeren Kern | Thursday, January 12, 2012

HT: Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »

Forced Marriages in Germany More Prevalent than Thought

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A new study has revealed that thousands of young women and girls in forced marriages seek help every year in Germany. The vast majority of victims come from Muslim families, and many have been threatened with violence or even death. The numbers involved are much higher than previously suspected.

More women and girls living in Germany are being forced into marriage under the threat of violence than previously thought, according to a new study released by the German government on Wednesday.

In 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 3,443 people sought help at counseling and information centers because they had already been, or were being, forced into marriage. The vast majority of those victims were women or girls, but 6 percent were young men, who, like many of the women, sought help because they were threatened with violence if they did not go through with the marriage.

The new study was presented Wednesday in Berlin by Family Minister Kristina Schröder and the federal integration commissioner, Maria Böhmer, both members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union. "Those who force their children against their will to marry someone they don't love, or who is a complete stranger, are committing brutal violence against them," Schröder said in a statement.

The German human rights organization Terre des Femmes had previously estimated that in Germany more than a thousand women and girls from immigrant families seek help from counseling centers each year. Schröder has called for the issue of forced marriage to be discussed more in German schools. » | mbw -- with wires | Friday, November 11, 2011

'Muslims Won't Win Against the West'
Immigration tensions are rising in Germany following Chancellor Angela Merkel's statement that multiculturalism has failed in the country. Udo Ulfkotte, a noted German journalist and author, known for his severe criticism of Islam, shared with RT his view on what is behind the integration dispute and where it may lead. "What I believe is there is a place for Muslim in this world and for their culture, they have a place to live in," Ulfkotte told RT. "And there is a place for European and Western culture to live in. What I don't believe is they will live peacefully together. We have a clash not only of civilizations and religions, we have a clash of ideologies, like we had a clash between communism and capitalism. Now we have a clash because Islam is also an ideology. I believe that Islam is not going to win a battle."

German Jihad: Homegrown Terror Takes on New Dimensions
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Osama bin Laden may be dead, but al-Qaida is alive and well in Germany. Each month, an average of five Islamists leave the country for terrorist training camps in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area. Recent arrests in Düsseldorf show just how dangerous homegrown terror has become.

It isn't easy being a militant Islamist, as Abdeladim el-K. and Jamil S. learned on a Tuesday two weeks ago. The two men were sitting in a two-room apartment on Witzelstrasse in the German city of Düsseldorf, complaining to each other about how complicated it is to build a functioning bomb. "Bomb is not so difficult as detonator," said Abdeladim el-K., "because detonator more dangerous than bomb." » | Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark | Monday, May 09, 2011

German Muslims Welcome Bin Laden's Death

German Finance Minister Says Too Many Gastarbeiter Were Allowed In
THE GUARDIAN: Wolfgang Schäuble enters multiculturalism row, saying problems of integrating Turkish guest workers have grown with third generation

Germany's finance minister has waded into the country's simmering row over multiculturalism, saying it had been a mistake to bring in so many Gastarbeiter, or guest workers, from Turkey during the economic boom years of the 1960s.

In an interview with the Guardian, Wolfgang Schäuble said Germany had expected its 3.5 million Turkish minority to integrate better in the decades that followed the wave of immigration.

"We made a mistake in the early 60s when we decided to look for workers, not qualified workers but cheap workers from abroad, Turkey," said Schäuble. Some people of Turkish origin had lived in Germany for decades and did not speak German, he said.

"When we decided 50 years ago to invite workers from Turkey, we expected that their children would integrate automatically. But the problems have increased with the third generation, not diminished, therefore we have to change the policy," Schäuble said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's plain-speaking finance minister was adding to comments she made last year, claiming multiculturalism had been a disaster for Germany. More recently her new interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, stoked the debate by saying that Islam did not belong in Germany. The foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has also spelled out the new, tougher message from Berlin, declaring that children of immigrants should learn German before the language of their parents and grandparents. » | Larry Elliott and Julia Kollewe in Berlin | Friday, March 18, 2011

'Germans Have to Distinguish between Muslims and Murderers'
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Investigators now believe that the man who killed two US airmen at Frankfurt Airport on Wednesday was acting alone. Still, German commentators find little comfort in knowing that. To them, it just means no one's safe anymore.

Germany is in a state of shock following Wednesday's fatal shooting at Frankfurt Airport, which left two US airmen dead and two wounded. It appears to have been the first deadly attack with an Islamist motive on German soil.

Twenty-one-year-old Arid U. has already confessed to being the gunman and to acting alone, but that doesn't seem to be of much comfort to Germans. Instead, the incident, which took place in a public area of the airport, has highlighted just how little can be done to prevent a lone gunman from carrying out an attack.

The man, who lived in Frankfurt but was originally from Kosovo, was not previously known to authorities and appears not to have been a member of an Islamist group. However, the suspect's Facebook page, which has now been taken offline, indicates that he had contacts to Islamists from the radical Salafist movement. >>> David Gordon Smith | Friday, March 04, 2011

German Interior Minister Reopens Bitter Row Over Muslim Integration
THE GUARDIAN: Hans-Peter Friedrich under fire after claiming Islam 'does not belong' in Germany

Germany's new interior minister has said Islam does not "belong" in the country, reopening a bitter debate over the integration of Germany's 4 million Muslims.

Hans-Peter Friedrich, who took office on Wednesday, was being asked by reporters about a gun attack at Frankfurt airport in which two US servicemen were killed and another two injured. Investigators suspect the attack, carried out by a 21-year-old Muslim immigrant from Kosovo, was an act of Islamist terrorism. A federal judge in Karlsruhe on Thursday ordered the suspect be remanded to jail on two counts of murder and three of attempted murder, pending further investigation.

In his first press conference as minister, Friedrich said on Friday that Muslims should be allowed live in modern Germany, but he added: "To say that Islam belongs in Germany is not a fact supported by history." >>> Helen Pidd in Berlin | Friday, March 04, 2011

Germany: Islamic Extremism Behind Shooting of U.S. Airmen
Mar 3 - German state prosecutors said on Thursday they suspected the gunman who killed two U.S. airmen at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday was likely motivated by radical Islam. Jon Decker reports

Gunman Strikes US Military in Germany

HT: Jihad Watch >>>

Thilo Sarrazin FULL HOUR Interview on BBC radio - World Have Your Say

HT: Eeyore @ Vlad Tepes >>>

Islam in Germany

German Terror Threat: Reichstag Building Closed for Terror Threat
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Germany's parliament says it is closing down the cupola of the Reichstag building to visitors over security concerns.


In a statement the parliament gave no reasons for the closure, which also covers the historic building's roof terrace. Pre-arranged group visits were still allowed, however.

Last week German authorities beefed up security at crowded places such as airports and train stations after Thomas de Maiziere, the Interior Minister, said that Berlin had received a tip-off that Islamic terror attacks were being planned in Germany.

A spokeswoman for parliament said the popular tourist site - from which one can get a panoramic view of the city - would be shut until further notice.

Birget Landskron also said "it has to do with the security situation" but would not elaborate further.

The move comes after Der Spiegel magazine reported on the weekend without citing sources that an informer claimed to German authorities that al-Qaeda planned a possible attack early next year on the parliament building. >>> Martin Banks | Monday, November 22, 2010

LE POINT: Le Reichstag de Berlin partiellement fermé en raison d'une menace d'attaque terroriste >>> Source Reuters | Lundi 22 Novembre 2010