Demo with caliphate slogans: Reul calls for ban on groups
Following last Friday's controversial Palestine demonstration in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul is calling for three Islamist groups to be banned. The CDU politician wrote in a letter to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), which is available to the German Press Agency, that he would like to see measures taken against "Generation Islam", "Realität Islam" and "Muslim Interaktiv" under association law. The "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" had previously reported on this.
According to the report, the groups openly spread the ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has been banned from operating in Germany since 2003. According to the NRW Constitutional Report 2022, the group is in favor of the reintroduction of the caliphate abolished by the Republic of Turkey in 1924 and the establishment of an Islamic state with Sharia law as its legal basis.
The three groups denounced by Reul are active on the internet and have a presence on social media. According to the NRW Minister of the Interior, they no longer limit their activities to this, but are regularly active at gatherings with several thousand participants in some cases. Reul writes of 130 supporters who could apparently mobilize a significantly larger potential number of people.
According to the police, Islamists at the demonstration with a good 3,000 participants in Essen last Friday apparently deliberately circumvented the authorities' requirements by using slightly modified flags and symbols, which were then no longer subject to prohibition orders. "Such explicit demands for a caliphate made on the streets have not been seen in recent years," wrote Reul. According to the report, the demonstration called for "A Khalifa for Palestine". The focus of the three groups is in Berlin and Hamburg, but in his eyes the events in Essen represent a new quality of Islamist activity in NRW and Germany.
The demand for a caliphate at the Essen demonstration has raised concerns, with Interior Minister Reul stating that such explicit calls are rare in recent years. The banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir, known for advocating for the reintroduction of the caliphate and an Islamic state, is reportedly being supported and promoted by the groups 'Generation Islam', 'Realität Islam' and 'Muslim Interaktiv'. These extremist groups are not only active online but also participate in physical demonstrations, sometimes attracting thousands of people.
Source: www.dpa.com
