Conflict with Far-Right Party: Young German Muslims Defend Right to Protest

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A debate about violent Salafists has erupted in Germany after radical Muslims clashed with supporters of the anti-Islamic Pro NRW party during its recent election campaign. Three young Muslims who took part in a demonstration against the party in Cologne described their pious worldview to SPIEGEL.

After the water cannons have withdrawn and the Muhammad cartoons have been stowed away, three young men get into a car in front of Cologne's main train station. They are bearded and have the look of religious men. They seem somewhat dissatisfied.

Malik says: "It's sad and humiliating that so few people came."

Martin says: "Brother, it's Tuesday afternoon. Many of us work."

Koray shrugs his shoulders. He took the day off, he says, so why shouldn't other people do the same?

Furious and Speechless

Malik, Martin and Koray had left Hamburg in the morning to protest in Cologne against the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that members of the right-wing extremist party Pro NRW intended to display in front of a mosque. Against the will of the police, the Cologne Administrative Court had approved the display of the drawings made by the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. One of his drawings was among a series of cartoons published by Danish newspapers in 2005 that led to worldwide protests by Muslims, who were offended by the pictures. Many Muslims believe that visual depictions of Muhammad should be prohibited.

Malik, Martin and Koray were furious and speechless at the judges' decision. They went to Cologne fearing that there would be injuries again, as there had been in two other nearby cities, Solingen and Bonn, a few days earlier.

In those incidents, furious young men with beards and dressed in long robes, hoodies and camouflage jackets had assaulted members of Pro NRW and the police. In Bonn, they were armed with wooden slats and stones, and 29 officers were injured, including two who were hospitalized with severe stab wounds. Murat K., the suspected knife attacker, is now in custody. Police arrested a total of 109 protesters.

Germany is now embroiled in a debate over violent Muslims. Politicians and federal security officials see a new form of aggression taking shape, and some are asking themselves whether radical youth invoking Islam could instigate an uprising in Germany. » | Hubert Gude, Souad Mekhennet and Christoph Scheuermann | Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan | Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Verbunden »

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 »

Pro-NRW-Demo vor Moschee: Kölner Polizei fürchtet neue Salafisten-Krawalle

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Köln rüstet sich für neue Ausschreitungen mit militanten Salafisten. Weil die rechtsextreme Gruppe Pro-NRW dort am Nachmittag vor einer Moschee demonstrieren will, könnte die Gewalt eskalieren. Die Union fordert ein schärferes Vorgehen gegen die Radikalen.

Köln/Berlin - Nordrhein-Westfalen fürchtet eine weitere Eskalation zwischen der rechtsextremistischen Kleinstpartei Pro-NRW und den radikalislamischen Salafisten. Am Dienstagnachmittag wollen Pro-NRW-Anhänger erneut demonstrieren, diesmal vor der im Bau befindlichen Kölner Zentralmoschee im Stadtteil Ehrenfeld.

Aus einer internen Lageeinschätzung der nordrhein-westfälischen Polizei, die SPIEGEL ONLINE vorliegt, geht hervor, dass die Behörden sich auf eine mögliche Verschärfung der Auseinandersetzung einstellen. Es sei bekannt geworden, heißt es in dem Papier, dass sich die Salafisten intensiv auf die heutige Kundgebung vorbereitet hätten. "Konkret will sich die Szene mit Schlagstöcken und Tränengas aufrüsten, um sich an den Einsatzkräften für die jüngsten Ereignisse in Bonn rächen zu können." Auch seien die Parteibüros und Anhänger von Pro-NRW weiterhin Ziele der radikalen Muslime.

"Wir werden den friedlichen Protest gegen die Wahlkampfveranstaltung ermöglichen. Gegen jede Form von Gewalt werden wir frühzeitig und konsequent vorgehen," kündigte Michael Temme, Einsatzleiter der Kölner Polizei, an. » | jdl/syd/heb/dpa | Dienstag, 08. Mai 2012

Verwandt »

Anti-Islam-Kongress: Tausende protestieren in Köln
DIE PRESSE: Der zweite "Anti-Islamierungskongress" in Köln sei "dreist" und "anmaßend", sagt Kölns Oberbürgermeister Schramma: "Da ist die Tür. Wir wollen euch nicht. Wir stellen uns quer."

Tausende Demonstranten haben am Samstag in Köln gegen den zweiten "Anti-Islamisierungskongress" der rechtspopulistischen Bewegungen "Pro Köln" und "Pro NRW" protestiert. Oberbürgermeister Fritz Schramma (CDU) sagte bei einer Kundgebung auf dem Kölner Heumarkt laut im Voraus verbreitetem Redetext, die Rechtsradikalen aus ganz Europa hätten wohl vergessen, was man ihnen bereits im September beim vorangegangenen Kongress zugerufen habe: "Da ist die Tür. Wir wollen euch nicht. Wir stellen uns quer."

Der Oberbürgermeister fügte hinzu: "Es war schon im letzten Jahr eine Anmaßung und Dreistigkeit, ausgerechnet hier in Köln, in der Stadt der Toleranz und der Vielfalt, mit rassistischen Parolen auflaufen zu wollen." Das Grundgesetz gebe vor, dass man solche Leute und Anschauungen ertragen müsse: "Unser Grundgesetz gibt uns aber nicht nur das Recht, sondern auch die Pflicht, da aufzustehen, wo die Rechte von Minderheiten infrage gestellt werden und Intoleranz propagiert wird." >>> Ag | Samstag, 9. Mai 2009