Uniformed "Sharia Police" patrols German city

[Tender Branson]

Authorities in Wuppertal are cracking down on conservative young Islamists who have mounted 'police' patrols by drinking and gambling venues in the Ruhr city, officials said on Friday.



Charges of unlawful assembly and use of uniform in public were brought against 11 members of a group trying to enforce aspects of strict Islamic Sharia law in the North Rhine-Westphalia city, a spokeswoman for the Wuppertal police told The Local.

Officers stopped the 11-man group on the street on Wednesday. Some were wearing orange vests bearing the words 'Shariah Police', in violation of federal German law, the spokeswoman said.

The group has been stopping young people at local drinking and gambling establishments and urging them to abstain from activities deemed to be ungodly according to Islam.

(...)

Don't cross the line, warn police

Meanwhile, the Wuppertal police on Friday released a statement pledging to crack down on anyone seeking to take the law into their own hands, especially with any use of intimidation or force.

"The state has an exclusive monopoly on the use of force," reminded local police chief Birgitta Radermacher. "Any conduct that intimidates, provokes or makes people insecure will not be tolerated. These 'Sharia Police' have no legitimacy," she added.

There had been repeated attempts, especially at night time, by members of the Salafi Islamist community to influence and recruit young people, the statement said.

Police presence in the city centre had been strengthened and citizens were urged to report sightings of the group, which has said it will expand its activities in other towns.

The group reportedly identifies itself with the Salafi movement, an ultra-conservative sub-group within Islam with a strong following in the Middle East. Most of the world's Salafis are from Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

http://www.thelocal.de/20140905/ruhr-police-throw-book-at-shariah-vigilantes

[Tender Branson]

These people are a fu**ing plague.

[Cory]

And they wonder why no one likes them. The Muslims in Europe are the guests of the local people, and should learn to behave as such.

[King]

The name is a PR disaster, but if all they were doing is urging people to turn their lives over to God, it just sounds like typical evangelicalism to me. Something I've seen outside plenty of bars and casinos.

I oppose it but can't really condemn it as it's just a free speech exercise.

[Хahar 🤔]

I too would like to use this thread as a socially acceptable outlet to vent my casual racism!

[Zanas]

It's clearly a communication operation with no importance at all, but a successful one because we're mentioning it. The very fact that they called it "Shariah police" and not "Shariah polizei" says everything about the expected outcome of this thing.

Hopefully they won't cause the Schwebebahn to close as unholy, because it's Wuppertal only attraction !

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I don't see what can possibly be wrong with what they're doing. I think their actions-for the most part-are positive, just like I think the guy with the sign that says "Jesus" who always sits at the bus station near my house is also positive. Religion is a positive thing, and any religious organization should be free to spread their message.

Now, if these guys actually started to intimidate people or tried to take the law into their own hands, they should and would be prosecuted and/or deported.

[Indy Texas]

I too would like to use this thread as a socially acceptable outlet to vent my casual racism!

Being Muslim is a race now?

[SNJ1985]

I actually agree with some of the goals of these people; and I understand why Muslims might be angry with Western countries over their continued interference in the affairs of their countries, which I happen to oppose myself. That said, it still doesn't make sense for Muslims to keep moving en masse to countries that they have such negative feelings towards. I get the Muslim criticism towards the decadence of modern Western society and the imperialistic behavior of many Western countries; but it's our job to change that, not theirs. We don't need the Qu'ran to teach us moral ways, we already have a book called the Holy Bible which can do that for us. We just need to start heeding its words again. Muslims are right to criticize the West's acceptance of feminism, homosexuality, alcoholism, pornography, pre-marital sex, immodest dress, suggestive dancing, certain types of music, gambling and other such degenerate influences that are damaging to society; but we have the power to stop that degeneracy ourselves if we would just crack open our Bibles again. Christianity is the solution to the West's moral dilemma; not Islam.

[Cory]

I actually agree with some of the goals of these people; and I understand why Muslims might be angry with Western countries over their continued interference in the affairs of their countries, which I happen to oppose myself. That said, it still doesn't make sense for Muslims to keep moving en masse to countries that they have such negative feelings towards. I get the Muslim criticism towards the decadence of modern Western society and the imperialistic behavior of many Western countries; but it's our job to change that, not theirs. We don't need the Qu'ran to teach us moral ways, we already have a book called the Holy Bible which can do that for us. We just need to start heeding its words again. Muslims are right to criticize the West's acceptance of feminism, homosexuality, alcoholism, pornography, pre-marital sex, immodest dress, suggestive dancing, certain types of music, gambling and other such degenerate influences that are damaging to society; but we have the power to stop that degeneracy ourselves if we would just crack open our Bibles again. Christianity is the solution to the West's moral dilemma; not Islam.

Disgruntled.

[SNJ1985]

Please kill yourself.

Not surprised that you'd respond that way; and no, I won't. I will stand up for my beliefs whether people like them or not.

[Cory]

Please kill yourself.

Not surprised that you'd respond that way; and no, I won't.

Well at least I can sit comfortable in the knowledge that we've already won and your cause is a lost one. In 50 years your kids and grand-kids will be Just. Like. Us. They will watch "our" TV networks, listen to "our" music, and share "our" values. This has been the trend since about the 1960's, and it's not turning back anytime soon.

[Famous Mortimer]

NJ Christian, do you oppose Christian missionary work in the middle east?

[SNJ1985]

NJ Christian, do you oppose Christian missionary work in the middle east?

No. When I say I oppose Western intervention in the affairs of Muslim countries, I mean that I'm opposed to efforts by the US and its NATO allies to manipulate governments and install friendly regimes through wars or other subversive methods; like we saw with the Iraq War, to name one of many examples. That's a major cause of the anti-Western feelings in that region.

I don't feel that it is hypocritical for me to support Christian missionary work in the Middle East and oppose Muslim efforts to establish a foothold in traditionally Christian countries; because many Muslims themselves similarly support efforts to spread their religion outside of its traditional home countries while simultaneously opposing the efforts of non-Muslims to proselytize their countries. I support the efforts of Christians everywhere, just like how Muslims support the efforts of their own everywhere.

[Famous Mortimer]

If you don't feel it's hypocritical, you are an idiot, because it's the very definition of hypocritical.

You just think your hypocrisy is justified because others are hypocrites.

What stops you from justifying anything on the grounds that other people do it?

[ingemann]

I want to thank NJ Christian for showing that not only among Muslims are there examples of terrible people.

[solarstorm]

[...] we already have a book called the Holy Bible which can do that for us. We just need to start heeding its words again. Muslims are right to criticize the West's acceptance of feminism, homosexuality, alcoholism, pornography, pre-marital sex, immodest dress, suggestive dancing, certain types of music, gambling and other such degenerate influences that are damaging to society; but we have the power to stop that degeneracy ourselves if we would just crack open our Bibles again. Christianity is the solution to the West's moral dilemma; not Islam.

Are you a satirist or are you a troll?

[Mechaman]

First off, yeah this thread is going to end really well.

I too would like to use this thread as a socially acceptable outlet to vent my casual racism!

Being Muslim is a race now?

No, it's not.  However "Muslims" in Europe are generally associated with immigration from Middle East countries that are seen by westerners as "barbaric".  It is sort of like how anti-Catholic movements in the 19th-early 20th century were all about opposing "the wrong sort of people."

I'm not sure if "racism" is the exact word I would use (though I don't see how Xahar is far off the mark if you connect the dots), but there is a pretty obvious cultural aspect beyond religion at play here.

EDIT: Modified after noting that this post would exclude the large numbers of European converts to Islam under original wording.

[Tender Branson]

I too would like to use this thread as a socially acceptable outlet to vent my casual racism!

I'm not racist here: I have the same sort of problems with similar fascist groups like the NPD-crowds who regularly try to lure students in front of schools, or the Hungarian guards from Jobbik who attack Romas and Sinti (or harrass them).

They are also a fu**ing plague.

I generally have a problem with all kinds of fascists (be it Islamofascists or Nazis), who think that grown up, adult people need to be put under tutelage by them because they apparently are unable to make decisions on their own.

And all this based on some random book called "Koran" or "Bible".

Some of these suckers have yet to arrive in the 21st century.

[ingemann]

I too would like to use this thread as a socially acceptable outlet to vent my casual racism!

Yes that's really the important point here, I'm sure that no Muslims would feel "uncomfortable" if a group of bald White men walk around in Muslim areas with in leather boots and clothing which said "Crusade Police" and tried to enforce "Christian values" on them.

That's how this come across to everybody else, when these people do this.

[palandio]

It's not racism. I would have similar problems with a group of Reborn Christians behaving that way and claiming police authority.  Or imagine a self-proclaimed Reason Police stopping people in front of churches. Or a self-proclaimed uniformed Anti-usury Police in front of some shops and stores that intimidates people who want to buy there. The grocery owner would rightfully urge the police to do something against that, and it's not different for the pub owner.

Additionally the involved Salafi groups actively pursue an agenda that includes not only religious practice, but overthrowing the free, democratic society and installing a Caliphate. Better keep an eye on groups like these before it is too late. (Same holds for other totalitarians.)

It seems to me that the "Sharia Police" has been trying to approach mainly young Muslims and radicalize them. That doesn't make it better.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The Muslims in Europe are the guests of the local people, and should learn to behave as such.

Sven Lau, the initiator of this Sharia Police, is not a "guest" by any definition you probably mean though. So, I'm not sure what he was supposed to learn.

For some reason, an astonishingly high number of prominent German Islamists don't seem to possess any "ethnic" background. Sven Lau, Pierre Vogel, Bernhard Falk, two of the members of the Sauerland terrorist group... I guess Denis Cuspert technically qualifies as well, since he's only half-Ghanaian, never knew his biological father, and didn't convert to Islam until he was 35.

So what's up with German convertites? Is it because of WWII and the Holocaust that Nazism is considered not politically correct enough even when you seek to become a homicidal madmen and instead becoming a Salafist is the way to go these days?

[Person Man]

They don't seem any worse than the creepy kids and the old people in front of the abortion clinic next to the sushi place, the sorority house and the Lutheran Church in Ft. Collins

[Vosem]

As terrible as the people described in the article are, this post seems to be even worse and quite unremarked upon:

The Muslims in Europe are the guests of the local people, and should learn to behave as such.

Should Europe be searching for a Final Solution, like they did to their earlier guests? Europe does not belong to any religion or ethnicity. The Muslims are not any more or less guests than the Catholic or Protestant Germans.

[politicus]

The Muslims in Europe are the guests of the local people, and should learn to behave as such.

Sven Lau, the initiator of this Sharia Police, is not a "guest" by any definition you probably mean though. So, I'm not sure what he was supposed to learn.

For some reason, an astonishingly high number of prominent German Islamists don't seem to possess any "ethnic" background. Sven Lau, Pierre Vogel, Bernhard Falk, two of the members of the Sauerland terrorist group... I guess Denis Cuspert technically qualifies as well, since he's only half-Ghanaian, never knew his biological father, and didn't convert to Islam until he was 35.

So what's up with German convertites? Is it because of WWII and the Holocaust that Nazism is considered not politically correct enough even when you seek to become a homicidal madmen and instead becoming a Salafist is the way to go these days?

If you can trust Speer Hitler did phantazise about a Germanic Islam taken over by the Aryans after Islam had defeated Christianity with its worship of weakness. Islam with its emphazis on strenght and martyrdom was his prefered version of monotheism.