Translation:

Essen’s mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU) reacts with horror to a demonstration in his city on Friday evening. 3,000 people, including many Islamists, marched through the Ruhr metropolis.

Essen’s mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU) reacted with outrage and incomprehension to an anti-Israel demonstration that marched through the Ruhr metropolis on Friday evening. Several of the approximately 3,000 participants chanted slogans and held up posters calling for a “Khilafah” (caliphate) in Germany. The three-hour procession on the edge of the city center was accompanied by 450 police officers and observed by state security.

According to the Essen police, the demonstration was registered by a private individual. However, the main organizer was apparently the “Generation Islam” group, which security experts consider to be part of the pan-Islamist movement “Hizb ut-Tahrir” (HuT) . HuT has been banned in Germany since 2003. The main speaker at the final rally in Essen was the activist Ahmad Tamim, the head of “Generation Islam.” The Islamic scholar Ahmad Omeirate told WAZ that Tamim was “using the Middle East conflict for mobilization and radicalization.”

Mayor Kufen regretted on Saturday morning that “Islamists, anti-democrats and Jew-haters” were allowed to parade through Essen protected by the freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Basic Law: “That is difficult to bear.” The CDU politician, who was the North Rhine-Westphalia state government’s integration officer from 2005 to 2010, called for consequences: “The Office for the Protection of the Constitution must take a closer look at Hizb ut-Tahrir’s splinter and successor groups. Bans must be an option.”

The demonstrators shouted slogans in Arabic and German on Friday evening. Posters condemned the Israeli military operation in Gaza (“Stop the genocide”) after the terrorist attack by the Palestinian Hamas, and one sign read: “German raison d’état calls for the killing of children.” The organizers initially used loudspeakers to remind people of the police requirement that no participant should question Israel’s right to exist. The tip-off was met with loud boos from the crowd.

At the beginning of the march, participants were also asked over loudspeakers to separate men and women. So it happened that most of the female demonstrators marched through the city behind the male participants. They repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) and held up signs calling for the unity of all Muslim believers and the establishment of a caliphate in Germany. Individual demonstrators stuck their right index fingers in the air; This gesture is intended to symbolize belief in the “one God”, but is also seen as a symbol of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”. The design of several black and white banners and flags also resembled depictions of IS.

The Essen police announced on Saturday that they would subsequently analyze the Friday demonstration and examine its “criminal relevance”. It turned out that the motive for a pro-Palestine meeting was only a pretext. Instead, the organizers held a religious event.

  • anteaters@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    There is no genocide. Egypt closed their border with Gaza and tells the people to fuck off because they are convinced they are terrorists. And Palestines “friends” only give Israel shit because they know Egypt is right.

    • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      So you disagree with the people from the UN that called it a “textbook case of genocide”?
      Isn’t Egypt the only border accepting evacuees? I missed it, is Israel evacuating the injured Palestinian civilians somewhere internally now? Who are Palestine’s “friends”, are they helping the humanitarian situation in some way?

          • anteaters@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            Also not “the UN”. It is not a genocide no matter how many supposed authorities you wish to pull out of your hat who share the same opinion as you.

            • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Seven people that work for the UN is not the UN? Who is an acceptable source from the UN then? Do you have anyone specific in mind? Is genocide a matter of opinion to you?

              • pufferfischerpulver@feddit.de
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                1 year ago

                It’s a genocide according to the UN once there’s a resolution from the UN calling it that. It’s that easy. People working for the UN are not the institution UN.

                That being said, what’s happening to the civilians in Gaza is absolutely horrific.

                • TinyPizza@kbin.social
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                  1 year ago

                  To be clear, I said it was people from the UN, not the entire UN. I’d preferably like to listen to the experts warning about a genocide rather than see if the world comes together to condemn it after the fact.

                  What is happening in Gaza is horrors that we can not even imagine.

                  • S_204@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    In case you aren’t aware, the population of Gaza has doubled since Israel became a Nation… that’s literally the opposite of a genocide.

                    Data regarding population levels is readily available.