BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Wednesday banned a Muslim group over accusations of violating human rights and the country’s democratic values, and conducted raids against two other Muslim groups.
The Interior Ministry said Muslim Interaktiv represented a threat to the country’s constitutional order by promoting antisemitism and discrimination against women and sexual minorities.
Several hundred police officers searched seven premises in the northern city of Hamburg linked to Muslim Interaktiv, as well as 12 other premises in Berlin and the central German state of Hesse in connection with two other Muslim groups — Generation Islam and Reality Islam.
The authorities in Hamburg confiscated assets including cash, data stored on computers, and handwritten notes. Muslim Interaktiv’s websites were also shut down and the group is banned from continuing its activities and from actively displaying any symbols of Muslim Interaktiv.
Muslim Interaktiv is known for a savvy online presence used to appeal especially to young Muslims who may feel alienated or discriminated against in Germany’s Christian majority society.
The government argued the group was a particular threat because it promoted Islam as the sole model for the social order and maintained that Islamic law should take precedence over German law in regulating life in the Muslim community, including in areas such as the treatment of women.
“We will respond with the full force of the law to anyone who aggressively calls for a caliphate on our streets, incites hatred against the state of Israel and Jews in an intolerable manner, and despises the rights of women and minorities,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.
“We will not allow organizations such as Muslim Interaktiv to undermine our free society with their hatred, despise our democracy, and attack our country from within,” he added.
Germany has in recent years been acting more forcefully ag …