Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns against mobilisation NRW Islamist scene very active since terrorist attacks
Düsseldorf · The Islamist scene in NRW is mobilising after the recent terrorist attacks. In mosques, extremists talk about the crimes. Already 25 Islamists have been deported.
Following the terrorist attacks in Austria and France, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in NRW has noted numerous reactions in the Islamist scene. "In NRW, for example, both well-known actors in the extremist scene and visitors and preachers in mosque associations which are under observation are making their views heard on the subject," says a report for the Interior Committee of the State Parliament, which has been made available to our editorial team. The activity, it says, is due to the cartoons, which are perceived as an attack on the prophet Muhammad. "On the other hand, the defence of the freedom of expression highlighted in this context is perceived as an attempt to unrestricted insult of Islam", the report says in a report submitted at the request of the FDP.
According to the report, reactions in the Islamist scene range from calls to boycott French products to glorification of the assassin who killed the French school teacher near Paris.
Marc Lürbke, deputy chairman and spokesman for domestic policy of the FDP state parliamentary group, said that Islamist terror continues to be an acute threat. Lürbke called for tough action against the radicals. "You cannot get at Islamists with discussion groups or changed profile images in the social media, but the constitutional state must defend itself clearly and resolutely against terror," said the FDP interior expert. "For if others hate our freedom, we will not restrict our freedom, but rather defend our values all the more resolutely.
200 people in NRW considered a threat
According to the report, the overall mood in the Islamist scene is highly emotional and tense. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has identified three patterns of action among Islamists: First, spontaneous acts of violence based on an assumed "Islamophobic attitude or statement - for example, as a reaction to showing Muhammad cartoons. Secondly, planned acts of violence after an escalation, which - presumably without the involvement of a foreign terrorist organisation - are committed, such as the assassination of the teacher near Paris. And thirdly, targeted attacks in which a terrorist organisation is active in the background.
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a terrorist attack causes more damage if it has been prepared long in advance and an organisation has invested in the act. "At the same time, however, the probability of early detection increases with the degree of preparation. After all, logistical support requires several of the parties who are involved to communicate with each other. This fundamentally increases the risk of discovery," says the analysis of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. According to the analysis, the "IS" had largely lost the ability to take such action after its military defeat in relation to Europe. "In the meantime, however, there are indications that it is rebuilding and expanding this capability," the report says.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the security authorities have currently classified 200 persons as threats and 178 relevant persons in the subject area of Islamist terrorism. According to the report, a high double-digit number of the 200 classified persons is currently "capable of action" - and could theoretically carry out attacks. According to its own statements, the state government is trying to return the perpetrators to their home countries. According to this, since 2018 25 dangerous persons and so-called relevant persons from North Rhine-Westphalia have been repatriated to their home countries under the Residence Act - including Afghanistan, Algeria, Serbia, Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Kosovo, Morocco and Lebanon. Tajikistan and Turkey.
"Absolute security will never be possible," said Mark Lürbke. "But we in NRW are consistently doing our homework and have been responding for years with well equipped security authorities, significantly more staff and precisely tailored and effective laws in harmony with freedom and security". The dual strategy of zero tolerance against those who pose a threat and effective prevention on the other hand is the key to success, he said. However, better networking by the security authorities has also been crucial. "NRW is making significant progress in this area with its own LKA coordination office. NRW is also drawing more from the resources of the Foreign Nationals Act than all other federal states. Wherever this is legally and physically possible, we are consistently putting dangerous persons out of the door," says the FDP interior expert.
(Original text: Christian Schwerdtfeger/Translation: Mareike Graepel)
