Police launched dawn raids across Germany yesterday on about 190 mosques, flats and offices linked to an Islamist group after the government banned the organisation, accusing it of radicalising youngsters.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the DWR (Die wahre Religion, “True Religion”) group had persuaded about 140 people to join militants in Iraq and Syria.
The DWR, also known as “READ!” made no reference to the raids on its website and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
De Maiziere said that it had several hundred members.
Pictures showed masked police officers carrying away computers and files from properties.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under pressure to harden her line on security after several attacks claimed by Islamic State (IS) across Europe, including a bombing and a knifing in Germany that wounded some 20 people in July.
She is also under fire for letting in about 900,000 migrants, mostly Muslims, last year.
Some Syrians in Germany say many mosques here are more conservative than those at home, and that they are confronted by Muslims who insist on a literal interpretation of the Qur’an.
Last month, a Syrian committed suicide in prison after he was arrested on suspicion of planning to bomb an airport.
His brother and friends have said he was “brainwashed” by ultra-conservatives imams in Berlin.
The domestic intelligence agency said in June that about 8,900 ultra-conservative Islamists were in Germany.
De Maiziere said that yesterday’s raids in 10 German states were the biggest crackdown on any group since the government shut down a movement known as Kalifatstaat (Caliphate State) in 2001, accusing it of extremist activities.
The raids in 10 states including North Rhine-Westphalia in the west, Hamburg in the north and Baden-Wuerttemberg in the southwest, began at dawn.
De Maiziere said the DWR had distributed Qur’ans and other religious material especially to young people, but this was not the reason for the ban.
Experts say the German translation of the Qur’an distributed by the group is a particularly strict version from the original Arabic text.
“Today’s ban is rather directed against the abuse of religion by people propagating extremist ideologies and supporting terrorist organisations under the pretext of Islam.”
“The 140 departures by the group’s activists speak for themselves,” De Maiziere said.
DWR members have tried to hand out material in German town centres to passers-by, often holding banners or wearing garments with the word “READ!” emblazoned in gold.
The ban means they are now prohibited from running such campaigns.
Fears about the number of migrants entering the country have boosted support for Alternative for Germany (AfD), a populist party that says Islam is incompatible with the constitution and has siphoned off support from Merkel’s conservatives.
A spokeswoman for the interior ministry said there was no indication that the DWR was planning attacks itself.