Germany bans Muslim Interaktiv group for anti-constitutional activities, including promoting caliphate and rejecting women’s rights, with raids across multiple states.
BERLIN: Germany has banned the Muslim Interaktiv group over accusations of anti-constitutional activities, including advocating for a caliphate system.
Police conducted raids on seven buildings in Hamburg where the group was based as the ban was announced on Wednesday.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated authorities would not allow organizations to undermine Germany’s free society with hatred.
“We will not allow organisations such as ‘Muslim Interaktiv’ to undermine our free society with their hatred… and attack our country from within,” Dobrindt said.
The group faced controversy in April 2024 during a Hamburg rally where over 1,200 people demonstrated against Germany’s allegedly Islamophobic policies.
Protest signs reading “the caliphate is the solution” generated national headlines and sparked heated debate.
Authorities also accused the group of rejecting women’s rights and promoting hatred toward Israel.
The interior ministry confirmed the organization will be dissolved with its assets confiscated.
Hamburg officials said the group, founded in 2020, was primarily active online and claimed the entire Muslim community faced rejection by German society.
Hamburg’s interior minister Andy Grote welcomed the ban as eliminating a dangerous and very active Islamist group.
Police also searched buildings in Berlin and Hesse as part of investigations into Generation Islam and Realitaet Islam groups.
Germany has previously banned multiple Muslim organizations, including NGO Ansaar which was accused in 2021 of financing Islamist terrorism through charitable work. – AFP
