Germany cracks down on Muslim groups viewed as threats to its constitutional order

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Wednesday banned a Muslim group over accusations of violating human rights and the country’s democratic values, and conducted raids against two other Muslim groups.

The Interior Ministry said Muslim Interaktiv represented a threat to the country’s constitutional order by promoting antisemitism and discrimination against women and sexual minorities.

Several hundred police officers searched seven premises in the northern city of Hamburg linked to Muslim Interaktiv, as well as 12 other premises in Berlin and the central German state of Hesse in connection with two other Muslim groups — Generation Islam and Reality Islam.

The authorities in Hamburg confiscated assets including cash, data stored on computers, and handwritten notes. Muslim Interaktiv’s websites were also shut down and the group is banned from continuing its activities and from actively displaying any symbols of Muslim Interaktiv.

Muslim Interaktiv is known for a savvy online presence used to appeal especially to young Muslims who may feel alienated or discriminated against in Germany’s Christian majority society.

The government argued the group was a particular threat because it promoted Islam as the sole model for the social order and maintained that Islamic law should take precedence over German law in regulating life in the Muslim community, including in areas such as the treatment of women.

“We will respond with the full force of the law to anyone who aggressively calls for a caliphate on our streets, incites hatred against the state of Israel and Jews in an intolerable manner, and despises the rights of women and minorities,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.

“We will not allow organizations such as Muslim Interaktiv to undermine our free society with their hatred, despise our democracy, and attack our country from within,” he added.

Germany has in recent years been acting more forcefully against extremism, and banned several extremist groups — including several far-right and Muslim organizations. The latest crackdown comes after a spate of attacks by Muslim extremists and far-right groups plotting to overturn the country’s order.

The Interior Ministry said Muslim Interaktiv “is particularly opposed to gender equality and freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

“This expresses an intolerance that is incompatible with democracy and human rights,” it added.

The government said Muslim Interaktiv sought to indoctrinate as many people as possible to “create permanent enemies of the constitution in order to continuously undermine the constitutional order.”

Andy Grote, the interior state minister of Hamburg, where the group was especially active, applauded the ban and called it a blow against “modern TikTok Islamism,” according to German news agency dpa.

In a recent report, the domestic intelligence service of Hamburg said Muslim Interaktiv’s leaders used online posts and videos to address socially relevant topics in order to exploit them “to portray a supposedly ongoing attitude of rejection by politics and society in Germany towards the entire Muslim community,” dpa reported.

Ahmad Mansour, a prominent activist against Muslim extremism in Germany, wrote on X: “It is right and necessary that Interior Minister Dobrindt has banned this group.”

He described Muslim Interaktiv as “part of an Islamist network that has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous in recent months. They carry out intimidation campaigns, specifically mobilize young people, and attempt to indoctrinate them with Islamist ideology.”

Muslim Interaktiv, whose online presence was disabled on Wednesday, could not be reached for comment.