Around 1,000 police officers have been deployed in raids on
radical Salafist Islamist groups across Germany, with early reports
suggesting around 70 addresses were targeted in seven states.

Salafist groups the Dawaffm, Millatu Ibrahim and Die Wahre Religion
(The True Religion) were the particular focus of the raids which were
carried out in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Berlin,
Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse.



Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich banned the Solingen-based
Salafist mosque network Millatu Ibrahim at the same time. "This
association is against our constitutional order and against the
philosophy of understanding between nations," he said on Thursday
morning.



Salafism is considered the fastest-growing branch of Islam in Germany
and is considered radical, and even dangerous, for its fundamental
views. Believers want a theocracy governed by Sharia or Islamic
religious law.



A Salafist group started an initiative this year to give away free
copies of the Koran to anyone in Germany who wanted one - a move which
attracted criticism although it was entirely peaceful.



Strict Salafists reject social liberality and try to live what they see
as “pure” Islamic lives, imitating how they consider the early Muslims
lived – they would see all women completely veiled, and regard
homosexuality as a serious sin. It is thought there are around 4,000
believers in Germany.



It became clear that their influence could be deadly after Arid Uka, a
Kosovan German Salafist believer was jailed for life in February for
killing two American soldiers at Frankfurt Airport in March 2011.



The extreme right-wing group Pro-NRW provoked confrontation with
Salafists in Cologne ahead of last month’s North Rhine-Westphalia state
election, holding up cartoons of Mohammed outside mosques.



Furious Salafists even attacked the police, with one man stabbing two policemen during one stand-off.



At one point an Islamist published a video message calling for the murder of Pro-NRW supporters and journalists.



Last weekend around 300 Salafists demonstrated in Cologne without incident.



DPA/The Local/hc

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120614-43143.html