IS flags and chants of “Allahu Akbar” shock Germany: are these large-scale demonstrations just the beginning?

Islamist symbols and cries of “Allahu Akbar”: In Germany, extreme Muslims take over the streets after the outbreak of war in the Middle East. According to police, 9,000 people demonstrated in Berlin this weekend against Israel and its attack on the Gaza Strip. In Düsseldorf there were 17,000, in Essen 3,000 – separated by gender according to Sharia law, German media report.

Men carrying the Shahadah flag, used by Islamist terrorist organizations and representing the Islamic faith, called for a caliphate with Sharia law. They shouted on posters: “The victory of Allah is near.”

More about demonstrations in the Middle East

Before the ban in Germany

The radical Palestinian network is expanding

First arrest by Kapo

Thousands of demonstrators at the Palestinian rally in Bern

“Keep a low profile”

US embassy warns Amis about pro-Palestinian demonstration in Bern

Several meetings in the Middle East

Thousands of people demonstrate across Switzerland for war victims

In Berlin, demonstrators spat on a window of coffee chain Starbucks. Background: Legendary former boss Howard Schultz, 70, is Jewish and has strongly condemned the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (65) has called for ‘protection of Jews’. The police are investigating various cases on suspicion of incitement. The police union is calling for stricter restrictions on gatherings. Their boss Jochen Kopelke (39): “These lifts through German cities should no longer exist.”

CDU leader Friedrich Merz (67) called on the traffic light government to stop the planned reform of the citizenship law. The government wants to introduce a shorter minimum stay for naturalization – instead of eight years, five years should be sufficient, and in the case of special integration services only three.

Anti-Semitism Commissioner Felix Klein (55) called for more attention to anti-Semitism among the Arab and Turkish populations. Klein: “The anti-Israeli aggression in everyday life, at demonstrations and on the Internet has shown that fundamental anti-Semitic attitudes can of course be activated all too easily among some members of this population group of Arab descent.”

Between 175,000 and 225,000 people of Palestinian descent live in Germany. Many are stateless or have another nationality because Palestine is not recognized as a state by the United Nations. A large number of people fled Lebanon to Germany in the 1970s after attacks on Palestinian refugee camps.

But the mood is heated across Europe. For example, in London on October 21 there was a demonstration with about 100,000 people, also calling for the destruction of Israel.

Austrian terrorism expert Nicolas Stockhammer (48), who discusses the terrorist threat in Europe in his book ‘Deceptive Calm’, identifies ‘a significant extremist threat potential’. For example, if Islamist extremists were to set the tone or call for violence in response to the ongoing events in Gaza. Stockhammer: “The fact that IS flags were sometimes openly waved does not bode well in this context.”

Depending on mobilization and local agitation, demonstrations could also escalate in other countries – Stockhammer does not rule out Switzerland.

During the anti-Corona demonstrations it became clear that such demonstrations should not be prevented or suppressed, says Stockhammer. “However, authorities have paid attention to selectively filtering and extracting extremist actors and propagandists. Even in virtual space.”

You could act similarly with the current demonstrations by preventing Islamists from participating and stopping their propaganda or recruitment efforts and ultimately the broad radicalization of third parties.