Jihad in Berlin (Again)

Over the weekend Salafists gathered again in Berlin to distribute free Korans. This time they were met by counter-demonstrators, whom they attempted to assault. When the police intervened, the culture-enrichers fought with them instead.


Many thanks to Hermes for the translation from Focus.de:

Aggressive Islamists in Berlin - Salafists hit hard again. Four wounded

Some 50 Salafists in Berlin’s Potsdamer Square slashed at 20 counter-demonstrators. The police had to take drastic measures. Four were injured. A member of the CDU calls now for the curbing of the hate preachers’ freedom of speech.

The followers of the radical Islamic Salafists gathered on Sunday at an information booth in Berlin’s Potsdamer Square. They wanted to distribute free copies of the Koran. Some 20 counter-demonstrators stood in front of them, and then a fight took place. It was only through the use of pepper spray and physical force that the police could control the attack of the Salafists against the demonstrators. Three agents were slightly injured, and a Salafist suffered a laceration on his head.

The office for the Protection of the constitution anticipate more riots

Already last weekend 29 agents were seriously injured in Bonn, when the situation during a demonstration of the right-wing splinter party Pro NRW against the Salafists escalated. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution anticipates even more riots with the participation of radical Salafists. “We act on the assumption that there will be more riots between the Salafists, the political counter-demonstrators, and the police,” an official spokesperson told the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung.

Before now, Salafist groups were dangerous because they played the role of continuous-flow heaters for Islamic terrorist groups. “Now comes the politically motivated street violence, which up until now did not come up with these groups in Germany. This is a new dimension,” the spokesperson said. A sign of this is for example the increase in the number of videos which show solidarity with violent attacks or call for carrying them out.

Schünemann wants to curb the hate preachers’ freedom of speech.

Not solely for this reason, the interior minister of Lower Saxony, Uwe Schünemann (CDU), calls for cutting freedom of speech for the radical Salafists. In a citation from the magazine, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution should check whether the basic right to freedom of speech of hate preachers who proceed in an aggressive and violent way against the German constitution could be curbed. The call for Salafists through the internet would in this way be forbidden. The expert on interior affairs from the CDU, Wolfgang Bosbach, declared to the magazine: “The Salafists want to replace the basic free democratic order with a theocracy. That’s why Salafism and democracy are plainly incompatible.”

The above article mentions an even more violent clash in Bonn. A translated news story about that incident will be posted later on.


For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.