Looks usual but more dangerous than IS, the Salafi groups in Germany

News24xx.com -  In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) there are more salafi members than in other states in Germany.

"Repeat my words," said the German convert and preacher famous radical Salafi group Pierre Vogel (photo article) in front of the audience. 

Many young spectators in the pedestrian area in the city of Offenbach, in the state of Hessen, followed suit: They repeated the two sentences of the creed Pierre Vogel said. It happened in 2010. On the social media Youtube footage of this scene and many Lin scenes from the "heyday" of the Salafi groups in Germany can still be found.

Until 2016, this group appeared publicly with confidence and aggressiveness. Bearded men with long white robes like those worn by Pierre Vogel shared free German translations of the Qur'an in the city center and shopping areas in western Germany. 

They launched a controversial campaign to divide the Qur'an which he called "READ!" 

They also held so-called "Islamic seminars" and joint picnics.

In 2016 the German Interior Ministry banned the "Die Wahre Religion" Foundation, which organizes the act of distributing the Qur'an. 

According to German intelligence service Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the foundation, "promotes an ideology, which wants to overthrow the constitutional order, support armed jihad and establish a place of recruitment and gathering of jihadists who want to go to Syria or Iraq."

After that, radical Salafi groups were no longer seen in public. But they did not disappear. "Most activities are carried out for the people themselves, without public knowledge," said Kaan Orhon, adviser at the Hayat group, which operates throughout Germany. 

Their meeting room is on the third level of a building in downtown Bonn. There is no "Hayat" name on the door, their address is also not found on the internet, there is only one telephone number. 

Anonymity is important for Hayat clients. Orhon worked with people who had been jihadists and returned from Syria and Iraq, or had joined radical Salafi groups, but had left the group.
 

 

 

 

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