Free Republic

A German police union boss has criticized organizers of Berlin’s annual open-air New Year’s Eve party for designating a special “safety area” for women, saying it suggests they aren’t safe from assault elsewhere. The comments by Rainer Wendt, who heads the right-leaning DpolG union, come amid an ongoing debate in Germany about how to tackle an increase in sexual assaults. Wendt told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung daily in an interview published Saturday that establishing such a safe zone sends a “devastating message.” “By doing so, one is saying there are safe zones and unsafe zones” for women that could result...

Many pilots in Germany are refusing to participate in deportations, local media reported on Monday. Following an information request from the Left Party, the government said that 222 planned flights were stopped by pilots who wanted no part in the controversial return of refugees to Afghanistan, which has been deemed a “safe country of origin” in some cases, despite ongoing violence and repression in parts of the country. Some 85 of the refusals between January and September 2017 came from Germany’s main airline Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings. About 40 took place at Düsseldorf airport, where the controversial deportations are...

A satirical Carnival float showing the British Prime Minister with a ‘Brexit’ gun in her mouth is set to become an iconic new addition to a Unite for Europe campaign. The float made its debut at the Düsseldorf Carnival last month, which traditionally entertains guests with politically satirical floats mocking major politicians. It depicts Theresa May sticking a gun emblazoned with “Brexit” into her mouth, over the words “Good luck, Great Britain!” The float’s creator, Jacques Tilly, was reportedly about to get rid of it when he got a call from Peter French of the Unite for Europe campaign, according...

A lawyer says a German convert to Islam who was convicted over a thwarted plan to attack American soldiers and civilians in Germany has been granted early release from prison. Fritz Gelowicz was one of four men arrested in 2007 and convicted in 2010. A Düsseldorf court found that they operated as a cell of the radical Islamic Jihad Union and plotted to attack Americans at facilities including the U.S. Air Force's Ramstein Air Base. …

Three Syrian men suspected of planning an ISIS terrorist attack in Duesseldorf have been arrested in Germany. Prosecutors say a fourth suspect, who informed officials in Paris about the plot, was already in custody in France. The federal prosecutor's office said the three men were arrested in three different German states on Thursday.

November 26, 2008 BERLIN (AP) — Two German citizens suspected of distributing propaganda over the Internet supporting al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations were arrested Tuesday, German prosecutors said. The men — identified only as Daniel P., 26 and Harun Can A., 23 — were among eight suspects whose homes were raided on Tuesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement. A 19-year-old German citizen identified as Irfan P. was already in custody on separate charges before the morning raids in cities including Augsburg, Duesseldorf and Bremen, where investigators combed through the suspects' computer equipment.

Mayor of Düsseldorf, often known as 'Nippon on the Rhine,' curses subprime problems By Aaron Kirchfeld and Holger Elfes Bloomberg News Thursday, August 16, 2007 DÜSSELDORF: These are not the best of times for Joachim Erwin, the mayor of Düsseldorf, Germany. Within five days last month, two of the biggest banks in the city, WestLB and IKB Deutsche Industriebank, removed their top executives after losses from trading and investments in U.S. subprime mortgages. The problems are an embarrassment for the capital of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, just as Erwin is trying to lure overseas banks to the city....

DUESSELDORF, Germany -- A Jordanian man who claims he was Osama bin Laden's bodyguard was questioned by U.S. officials who are considering having him testify at the Virginia trial of terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, the man's attorney said Thursday. Shadi Abdellah, 28, sentenced last November to four years in prison for helping plan terror attacks in Germany, was granted early release last month after serving more than half the time, including in pretrial custody. While in prison, he served as a government witness in several trials, including that of his alleged co-plotters in the German cell of the Tawhid and...

<p>DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -- Germany's third-busiest airport, Duesseldorf, was evacuated on Sunday after a series of bomb threats, halting traffic on one of the busiest weekends of the year.</p> <p>The airport and a number of airlines received telephone warnings during the course of Sunday morning, prompting the airport to suspend flights and begin evacuating buildings from 11:35 a.m. (0935 GMT), airport and airline officials said.</p>