Germans Use Anti-Nazi Laws to Raid Muslims

Fundamentalists groups targeted in crackdown
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 16, 2010 2:00 PM CST
Germans Use Anti-Nazi Laws to Raid Muslims
In this Sept. 10, 2010, file picture, Muslims pray at the market square in downtown Moenchengladbach, western Germany.    (AP Photo/dapd, Roberto Pfeil, File)

German police raided homes and offices linked to two Islamic groups this week, using "anti-Nazi laws of association," reports the Christian Science Monitor. The groups raided are made up of fundamentalist Salafist Muslims, and a government official says they are suspected of wanting to "create an Islamic theocracy and working against the democratic order of Germany," notes AP. Notably, neither is accused of planning any kind of violence.

“These groups are a problem for integration, even maybe for radicalization, though not necessarily for violent jihad," said a former German lawmaker now with the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels. “They are very orthodox and like to be separate but are not preaching but usually condemning violence. The problem is that some jihadis in Germany from before identified themselves as Salafi.” Click here for more. (More German stories.)

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