Number of Islamists on rise in Germany

BERLIN

Firefighters walk past the Al-Rahma Islamic Center. Four were arrested after a second Islamic institution was burned.

Support for Islamist groups is on the rise in Germany, the country’s domestic intelligence agency said in its annual report. 

The number of members and supporters of groups like Milli Görüş, the largest Islamist organization in the country, or Hezbollah in Germany rose from 38,080 in 2011 to 42,550 last year, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s report, Der Spiegel website reported.

The largest growth was seen among members and supporters of Salafis, which increased from 3,800 to 4,500, the government agency stated. German authorities banned three Salafi Muslim groups in March that the Interior Ministry said wanted to overturn democracy and install a system based on shariah. 

Officials in Germany have accused Salafis of condoning violence against state institutions.

Neo-Nazi bands on far-right scene

Meanwhile, neo-Nazi bands still play an important role in the far-right movement, the report said. The number of active right-wing extremist music groups was identified as 182 in 2012, according to the report. This number was 178 in 2011. 

However, the agency found that they had held significantly fewer concerts than in the previous year. In November 2011, Germany was shocked to learn that a group calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU), a previously unknown neo-Nazi cell, had claimed responsibility for the murders of eight Turks, a Greek and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007.