Free Republic

Berlin’s neutrality law is most often discussed in relation to the Islamic headscarf. But one Christian teacher has found that it applies to other religions as well. A Protestant teacher working in the Wedding district of Berlin was told to immediately stop wearing her cross necklace, the German Catholic News Agency (KNA) reported on Tuesday. Consistorial president of the Berlin-Brandenburg Protestant Church Jörg Antoine confirmed last week that the woman had been given the instructions, which were based on Berlin’s neutrality law that prohibits teachers and other public sector workers from wearing religious symbols. The neutrality law has generally applied...

A protest by Muslim parents against a gay man looking after their children at a Kindergarten has led to a public debate in the liberal capital city. The parents of preschool children in the northern district of Reinickendorf threatened to gather names for a petition against the kindergarten when they found out that one of the nursery teachers was gay, Tagesspiegel reported on Wednesday. At first the protest led the young man to request to be transferred to another kindergarten. But the management of the preschool put their foot down and gave the parents the choice: either accept that a...

On the 60th anniversary of the start of the European Union, at least 3,500 demonstrators in Berlin joined an international protest to show their opposition to the UK leaving its member states behind. As British Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to trigger Article 50 next week, setting into motion negotiations for an EU without the UK, thousands in Berlin and other major cities took to the streets on Saturday, marking 60 years since the Treaties of Rome laid the foundations for the modern-day Union. Brexit has been largely viewed as unpopular in Germany even before the referendum vote last summer,...

Berlin police announced they seized an artist's homemade cannon after a coconut launched by the device narrowly missed hitting a dog walker. Police said in a Facebook post that a man taking a dog for a walk March 1 in an industrial area of the German capital heard a loud bang followed by the sight of a large projectile whizzing past him at a high speed. Investigators determined the projectile was a coconut that had been launched from a cannon created by a 23-year-old artist. Police shared photos of the device in the Facebook post. The artist, Julian Charriere, said...

Colour footage of street scenes of Berlin ca. 1900. (Makes you pine for the good ol' days)

Hundreds of German police have launched raids across Berlin, targeting a mosque and Muslim association linked to radical Islamists and the Islamic State Christmas Market attacker. The now banned “Fussilet 33” association is thought to be linked to Anis Amri, the Tunisian migrant who drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market in December last year, killing 12 and injuring 50.

The embattled leader says Europe has an obligation to take more displaced people from Syria and Iraq. She also said Islam "is not the cause of terrorism" and that combatting extremism needs the cooperation of Muslim countries. In a wide-ranging speech at a Munich security conference, the German chief also vowed to work closely with Vladimir Putin's Russia in the fight with ISIS in the Middle East. Mrs Merkel has come under fire for taking in up to one million refugees amid security concerns and a string of migrant sex attacks across Germany. After the Berlin lorry attack at a...

Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller has urged US President Donald Trump "not to go down the road of isolation" with his planned border wall with Mexico. Mr Mueller warned such divides cause "slavery and pain" and would "destroy the lives of millions". The German city was divided by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. Mr Mueller's statement came as Mr Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto agreed to "work out their differences" over the issue. The planned wall was one of Mr Trump's key election campaign pledges, but it has cast a shadow over the US's relationship with its...

American journalist Sandhya Kambhampati was stopped by police 23 times within her first nine months of living in Berlin. Now she’s investigating racial profiling in Germany — and is looking for others to share experiences. The first time 24-year-old Sandhya Kambhampati was stopped by an officer in Berlin, she had gone to a park for a morning jog after arriving in the city days before. The officer asked her what she was doing, where she lived, and for her ID. When she told him she only had her keys, he said she should always carry identification and left. […] Nine...

This is 10 days after an islamic terrorist attack that happened in their city, and not a mention of that. Given most people will have a positive outlook for the new year, but a couple of their interviews, they say they are more concerned about Trump, and there is not one mention of the Christmas Market attack. Given that Berlin is the LA of Germany, IMO Germany is lost.

Cologne police have been accused of racial profiling after targeting men of North African appearance on New Year’s Eve. In the US racial profiling is illegal, but in Germany and the UK, the law isn’t that clear. There is no law in Germany that explicitly prevents a police officer from stopping and checking someone for the way he or she looks. Police in Cologne have drawn some criticism for focusing their attention on men who looked as if they might come from North Africa this past New Year’s Eve. They have denied the accusations of racial profiling, even though the...

The newly appointed prime minister of Italy is calling for massive changes in the country's immigration policy for 2017. Paolo Gentiloni is expected to call for a full reversal on his predecessor's policies which allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants enter Europe through Italy. A two-page instructional document has been sent to police stations throughout Italy ordering officers to increase efforts to deport migrants. The document says the change is important to battle “a growing migratory pressure and an international context marked by instability and threats”. ... Italy will open 16 detention centers for migrants while they are being arranged...

Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Germans on Saturday to hold firm to democratic values in the face of jihadist terror, urging them to counter “murderers who are full of hate” with compassion and cohesion. In her New Year’s address delivered less than two weeks after a Tunisian suspect rammed a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people, Merkel acknowledged it was “bitter and sickening” that the attack and others in July were carried out by asylum seekers. Nevertheless, she defended her decision in September 2015 to let in tens of thousands fleeing war from mostly Arab...

Islamist terrorism is the biggest challenge facing Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said in her New Year message. Referring to the deadly truck attack in Berlin by a Tunisian asylum seeker, she said it was "sickening" when acts of terror were carried out by people who had sought protection. She said 2016 had been a year of "severe tests". But she also said she was confident Germany could overcome them. "As we go about our lives and our work, we are saying to the terrorists: 'You are hate-filled murderers, but you do not determine how we live and want to...

Chancellor Angela Merkel is telling Germans in her New Year message that their country is stronger than terrorism and the government will do everything to ensure “security in freedom.” Merkel said in her annual televised address being broadcast Saturday that 2016 had been “a year of severe tests,” the toughest of them Islamic extremist terror. She added, however, that she is “confident for Germany.” On Dec. 19, 12 people were killed in a truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that rampage, as it did for two attacks in Bavaria in the summer...

We’ve seen this sort of thing before in Europe: immediately after some Islamic atrocity, Muslims take to the streets in celebration, honking and shouting, ostensibly because of a wedding. The following video shows events in Berlin on Christmas Eve. According to the notes accompanying the video: The point is: They s*** on our customs and traditions, on us Germans! They don’t really give a damn about the attacks either! Sure, the Islamic associations and unions distance themselves officially, but they would never entertain the idea of demonstrating for the victims with candlelight vigils or anything! And dozens of radical Islamists...

When thousands of revellers stream into the area around Copenhagen Town Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) to count down the final minutes of 2016, they will do so under increased security. Copenhagen Police told broadcaster DR on Thursday that the Christmas market attack in Berlin and the general terror threat level in Denmark will mean a number of new safety initiatives on one of the absolute biggest party nights of the year. […] The move is a direct response to the December 19th terror attack in Berlin, where Tunisian national Anis Amri allegedly hijacked a truck and drove it into a Berlin...

Berlin police released security camera pictures as part of their hunt for a gang of young migrants who they believe attempted to murder a homeless man in Christmas day by setting him alight. Officers have now arrested seven men between the ages of 15 and 21-years-old including six Syrians and one Libyan after their faces were identified from security camera footage at Berlin’s Schonleinstrasse subway station. The attack took place in the early hours of Christmas day, reports Germany’s best-selling broadsheet Welt, when the gang came across a homeless man sleeping on a station platform bench. Setting fire to the...

The suspects accused of setting a homeless person on fire in the Berlin underground have been identified as refugees from Syria and Libya, police confirmed. Six of them surrendered to police, while the seventh was arrested in a police operation. “Six suspects turned themselves in at various police stations [Monday] evening, [and] another suspect was arrested last night by undercover investigators,” an official police release said. The seven young men allegedly set a homeless person on fire as he slept at the Berlin Schonleinstrasse station overnight into Christmas Day on Sunday, police say.

A Moroccan security official says that his country's intelligence service warned Germany twice about the risk posed by Anis Amri, the radical Muslim who slaughtered 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin earlier this month. The official, who spoke to Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, says that the Germans received two written warnings, one on September 19 and the other on October 1, about Amri's radical Islamic beliefs. He explains: Correspondence from the Moroccan security agencies had a clear warning about the Tunisian man's desire to carry out a terrorist act. Earlier this month, Dutch populist Geert Wilders was criticized...