Schily Warns on Islamic Threat
FAZ May 24, 2002
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F.A.Z. BERLIN. The number of members in violent right-wing extremist groups grew during 2001 while the number of members in right-wing political parties fell, a report on extremists in Germany showed on Friday.
The number of members of violent Islamic groups remained stable at about 3,100 members, according to the annual report complied by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a domestic intelligence agency.
Interior Minister Otto Schily said these groups still remained the greatest threat to Germany's internal security. "We will have to undertake extensive efforts to confront this threat without panicking," Mr. Schily said at a news conference where he discussed the report's findings. But he added that officials had "no concrete knowledge that an attack was about to be launched."
Mr. Schily also expressed his concerns about the group Milli Gorus, the largest Islamic organization in Germany with about 27,500 members. The minister says the group wants to spread its religious-based political views throughout the West. "That does not conform to our constitution," he said.
Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein also opposes the group and has said it should be banned because it strives to impose the Koran and the Sharia, the Islamic book of law.
The extremist right wing, a repeated source of worry because of Germany's Nazi past, presented a spilt picture last year, the office's report showed. The membership in such political parties sank. The ranks of the German People's Union fell by about 2,000 members to 15,000 and the ranks of the Republikaner dropped by about 1,500 to 11,500.
But violent skinhead and neo-Nazi groups gained about 700 members to reach a total of 10,400, according to the report. Mr. Schily said such groups had not developed into terrorist organizations. But he said it was still possible that individuals or small groups could commit attacks.
Such was the case during the violent summer of 2000. These attacks included the fatal beating of Alberto Adriano, a 39-year-old man from Mozambique, in eastern Germany and the bombing of a commuter train station in Düsseldorf that injured 10 immigrants from the former Soviet Union, including six Jews.
In response to such attacks, the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder launched an effort to ban the right-wing extremist National Democratic Party. The report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution showed that the party's membership remained constant at about 6,500 in 2001. But Mr. Schily said the party was continuing to propagate its "aggressive, anti-constitutional ideas." |
