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To eat? The city with almost 600,000 inhabitants in the center of the Ruhr area rarely makes international news. Different this year. In June, several hundred men beat each other – Lebanese against Syrians. The reason for the massive brawl, in which several people were injured, is said to have been a dispute between two eleven-year-olds.
But the headlines in early November were even scarier. At a pro-Palestinian demonstration of about 3,000 people in the city center, Islamists waved jihadist flags and called for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a caliphate. Islamism has never shown its face so openly at an officially sanctioned event in Europe.
How did things get to this point in Essen, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia? Blick delved into the city’s Muslim world to find answers.
Major immigration
The first stop is Kettwiger Strasse, the pedestrian area north of the train station. They and their side streets bear witness to the fact that a large amount of immigration from Muslim countries has taken place here in recent years. Falafel, manakish, kebab and other specialties from the Middle East and North Africa are promoted here. “40 years ago I was the only foreigner here,” says a woman who works here.
A ten-minute walk from the center is the Al-Taqua Mosque, which previously made negative headlines as the Assalam Mosque and was under the supervision of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. An Islamic ZDF reporter spent six months undercover investigating in 2018 and was shocked by hate speeches and WhatsApp messages with radical Islamist content exchanged in women’s circles.
“Everything thrown away”
In 2021, the mosque changed its name. Head Mohamed Bourmenir (52) says he “kicked everyone out” from the old team. “The police carried out a forced eviction,” he told Blick. He does not want to reveal the reason for this. And only the Office for the Protection of the Constitution knows whether his house is still under surveillance.
Bourmenir distances himself from the Islamists who took part in the parade on November 3. “These were children who wanted to provoke and incite. It was all just for show. This has nothing to do with Islam.” He thinks proclaiming a caliphate is absolute nonsense and taps his head with his finger: “We live here in a constitutional state.”
He assures us that everything is going well in his mosque now. To prove this, he invites the Blick reporters for prayer on Friday at 1 p.m. Men – many of them young – sit tightly packed on the carpet. Due to lack of space, many Muslims even listen to the imam’s Arabic words outside in the rain. Cameras are prohibited here.
Muslims want to catch up
Because there are also many non-Arabs among the believers, Bourmenir then translates into German. “Of the 50 million Muslims in Europe, 40 million do not work,” he tells listeners. The men preferred to play games rather than work, the women spent hours beautifying themselves. In fact, studies show that Muslims in Europe are less likely to be employed due to socio-cultural differences and a lack of language skills. They absolutely need to develop further, he says. Bourmenir’s call: “We must not stand still!”
Nobody here wants to know anything about Islamism. After the prayer, Syrian Abdelmadjid (26) reveals that he took part in the demonstration to show his solidarity with the Palestinians, but that he does not believe in a caliphate. ‘I feel sorry for the people in the Gaza Strip. I want everyone to live in peace.”
Fear of Islamists
In a mosque in an industrial area, which, like many others, is followed by video, many children are currently learning to pray in the Koran school. The prayer leader, who comes from Africa, takes a short time between courses. The Islamists belonged to the Hizb ut-Tahrir sect, with whom his community had a dispute years ago, he said. And he emphasizes: “We made it clear to them that they would not find a place with us.” He doesn’t know where they are meeting today. “It has to be somewhere private.”
He does not want his name or the name of his mosque published – for fear he would become ‘a target for such people’.
No, everything is clear
According to estimates, about ten percent of the approximately 18 million inhabitants in North Rhine-Westphalia are Muslim. How many are extreme? The Office for the Protection of the Constitution offers an answer. Last year, he placed 114 of the state’s 850 to 1,000 mosques under his supervision. About 2,800 Salafists were counted, of whom 600 were said to be violent.
Only the Islamists themselves know when and in what context they will reappear or even strike. Herbert Reul (71), Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, states in his foreword to the report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution that there is still a great danger in Germany that Islamist-motivated extremists will commit terrorist attacks. Reul: “There is no all-clearness in Islamism.”
Affected Muslims
To integrate different cultures and recognize radicalization, the city of Essen relies on regular interfaith dialogue. Muhammet Balaban (68) is also participating. He is chairman of the Essen Association of Immigrant Associations.
He tells Blick that it hurts him that the misconduct of a small group harms the entire Islamic community. “We condemn what happened. Anyone who has anything to do with this is not one of us.” As a sign of solidarity, he joined a human chain against intolerance, misanthropy and violence in the Old Synagogue on Sunday evening.
Mayor wants to fight
This monumental old synagogue, which is constantly guarded by the police, was built in 1913. The building where last year was shot at has served as a home for Jewish culture since 2010. On Thursday the commemoration of Kristallnacht took place there, when the Nazis set fire to the inside of the building in 1938.
Mayor Thomas Kufen (50) said in his speech following the demonstration a week ago: “Many things happen today that make you sink into the ground in shame. I understand that if it upsets many Essenes, I am one of them.” Immigrant anti-Semitism has been ignored or downplayed for too long. “We need a decisive stand against any form of anti-Semitism.”
What went wrong?
Schalva Chemsurashvili (45), chairman of the Jewish community in Essen, said in an interview with Blick after the memorial service that “something has gone wrong with education and integration.” Young Muslims in particular are becoming radicalized. Chemsurashvili: “These people who have chosen Germany as their home must know the values that apply here. If you don’t agree with that, you shouldn’t stay here.”
He describes the fact that Islamists waved terror flags and called for a caliphate at an approved demonstration in central Germany – without being prosecuted – as “a new quality” of extremism and threat. Chemsurashvili, from Georgia, is shocked: “I couldn’t have imagined something like that, even in my nightmares.”
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
