|
German Police Crack Down on Islamists
 |
|
"The
operation was part of the preventative fight against criminal
Islamist organizations," said Bouffier.
|
Additional
Reporting by Ahmed Al-Matboil, IOL Correspondent
BERLIN, September 28, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Police
in the western German state of Hessen said on Wednesday, September 28,
they had arrested 38 suspects in a series of raids the day before
targeting suspected Islamic extremists.
"The
operation was part of the preventative fight against criminal Islamist
organizations," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Hessen Interior
Minister Volker Bouffier as saying.
Bouffier
said the investigations into the attacks in
Madrid
and London
had shown that the attackers had previously been convicted for petty
crimes such as theft and drug dealing.
Up
to 100 German policemen and special forces in some 30 vehicles raided
several Muslim-populated districts in
Frankfurt
Tuesday, September 27, bringing life in the largest city in Hessen to
a standstill.
A
police spokesman told Die Welt newspaper that police acted on
tips that Islamists were planning to set up terrorist cells.
He
said the campaign was aimed at nipping in the bud potential terrorist
operations by cracking down on weapon traffickers and passport
forgers.
He
said police have barricaded Münchener Stracße street
and raided 16 shops owned by Turks.
Police
have frisked passers-by on the street and searched the shops for
weapons or suspicious materials, according to the Frankfurter Neue
Presse daily.
Police
have also raided some 20 cities and towns in other Hessen cities
including
Marburg, Wetzlar and Cassel.
The
raids followed massive arrests of Islamists in both
France
and
Italy.
French
police detained nine people Monday, September 26, during a series of
pre-dawn raids west of Paris
in the Yvelines and Eure regions.
Italian
police also detained 11 people in Milan
suspected of making up a militant Islamist cell.
The
anti-Muslim rhetoric and campaigns were fueled by the London
blasts that targeted three underground stations and a double-decker
bus on July 7, killing 56 people.
British
police said four young British-born Muslims, three of them of
Pakistani origin, carried out the grisly attacks, which drew immediate
condemnation of Muslim scholars worldwide.
he
spiritual leader of the Church of England, Rowan Williams, has warned
against making Muslims "scapegoats" for the London
bombings.
Nothing
New
Mohamet
Fahim, an employee in a long-distance call center in
Münchener Stracße street, saw nothing new about the shop-to-shop searches and raids.
"I
have got used not to police raids launched two or three times a
week," he told the Frankfurter Neue Presse.
But
he criticized the "horror" campaign as it badly affects
sales and scares away customers because it tarnishes the image of
Muslims.
Nazim
Alemdar, an owner of audio cassette shop, supports the search
campaigns if they are done in a civilized manner.
"I
loathe the way they are shocking the people," he told the paper.
"It is the first time in decades to see such a large number of
policemen conducting massive searches."
German
Muslims are planning a series of proceedings in a number of German
cities to clear stereotypes and misconceptions against Muslims,
highlight merciful teachings of Islam and engage positively with
non-Muslims in the European country.
A
"Week for Islam" will be organized September 29 by Muslim
activists in the city of Karlsruhe.
In
December of last year, some 40 Muslim youths, aged 18-30, set up a
kiosk in central Hamburg, distributing illustrative materials on Islam among attentive and
enthusiastic passers-by.
The
energetic volunteers used "Muslims Against Terror" as their
mantra to reinforce the fact that Muslims have nothing to do with
terrorism
There
are some 3.4 million Muslims in Germany, two thirds of whom are of Turkish origin.
Islam
comes third in Germany
after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.
|
