Free Republic

Restored film of an astonishing suspended train over some lively German towns in 1902, like something from H.G. Wells. Or is it a sophisticated modern animation? Hard to tell. What do you think?

One person was killed and one person was injured in a stabbing attack in the German city of Wuppertal-Elberfeld today, according to police. Wuppertal police are still searching for one or more suspects related to the stabbings. No information has been released about the possible motive of the attack. This marks the second reported stabbing attack in Europe today, as one person was killed in Finland during a stabbing attack that left several others injured.

A high school in western Germany has banned the use of prayer rugs and other traditional Muslim rituals saying it is “provocative” to other students, sparking a debate about freedom of religion. The Wuppertal school sent a letter to staff in February saying Muslim students had been using prayer rugs and performing ritual washing in the restrooms, and that they should get a “friendly reminder” it’s not permitted and will be reported to the administration. …

The head of Germany’s second largest police union has harshly attacked the country’s justice system, after a court in Wuppertal ruled that so-called “sharia police” are legal. Rainer Wendt, head of the German Police Union (DpolG), told the Passauer Neue Presse (PNP) on Wednesday that the German judiciary are far too weak in dealing with known criminals. “These days the full force of the law often means we collect personal details from offenders and the judges let them go free,” said Wendt. …

A German court on Monday ruled that a group of Islamists did not break the law in forming “sharia police” street patrols and telling people to stop drinking, gambling and listening to music. The ultra-conservative Muslim group around German Salafist convert Sven Lau sparked public outrage with their vigilante patrols in the western city of Wuppertal in 2014, but prosecutors have struggled to build a case against them. The city’s district court ruled that the seven accused members of the group did not breach a ban on political uniforms when they approached people while wearing orange vests bearing the words...

Islamic State and “Sharia Police” stickers have been seen on vehicles in Hamburg, and some fear that extremists may try and harass residents. However, police and security services have denied these reports. At least one witness has came forward claiming that she has seen Islamic State logos and sharia police slogans on a car in Hamburg. According to the woman, she saw a car at a traffic light populated by three women wearing the Islamic full-face veil, the hood of the car was described as having a large logo on it with a blue border which read: “Sharia Police”. Now...

Police in Moenchengladbach have arrested infamous Salafist Sven Lau on suspicion of supporting a terrorist group. [...] In a statement, the prosecutors said that Lau, 35, had been arrested on suspicion of acting on behalf of "Jaish al-mujahirin wa-l-ansar" (army of emigrants and helpers, or Jamwa). That could make him culpable of supporting a foreign terrorist organization, a serious crime that carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in jail. ...

German authorities will not to press charges against nine men who preached radical Islamist views in the street while wearing jackets marked "sharia police", a court ruled on Thursday. According to the ruling handed down in the western city of Wuppertal, the men's orange jackets did not constitute a breach of rules on wearing uniforms. The men, followers of the ultra-conservative Salafist form of Islam, had patrolled the streets of Wuppertal in the summer of 2014, demanding that nightclub revellers stop drinking alcohol and listening to music, and called for an end to gambling. ...

State prosecutors in the Ruhr city of Wuppertal said on Tuesday that they have brought charges against notorious Islamic fundamentalist Sven Lau, who was behind a short-lived “Sharia police” vigilante force in the city. Lau, 34, is accused—with nine others—of infractions against the law on freedom of assembly over the group of high-vis-vest-wearing Islamists who declared that they would patrol the streets to police morals last September. […] “Sharia law is not tolerated on German soil,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said at the time. The western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is widely regarded as a hotspot for fundamentalist...

Three Palestinian men admitted on Wednesday that they carried out an arson attack on a synagogue in North Rhine-Westphalia in June 2014. One 24-year-old man told a court in Wuppertal that the group had carried out the attack in despair at violence in their homeland between the Israeli armed forces and Palestinians. But while they wanted to “send a signal”, he say they did not want to set fire to the place of worship or hurt anyone. …

Salafists who caused outrage by mounting patrols in western Germany as "Shariah Police" have ditched their vests and changed their name, but pledged to continue to take action. It comes as political leaders were accused of creating a "safe zone" for Islamists. North Rhine-Westphalia has become the national front runner in imports and exports of holy warriors,” Christian Democratic Union (CDU) state parliament member and interior policy spokesman Theo Kruse said on Friday. Kruse argued that the state had become a “national space of peace and recovery for Salafists" and a "safe zone" for Islamists. ... Salafism is the fastest-growing...

Conservative members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition put forward a united front at the weekend against recent developments in the city of Wuppertal. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said civilians wearing uniforms bearing the logo “Shariah police” could not simply start patrolling German streets. The groups reportedly hovered around sites like discotheques and gambling houses, telling passers-by to refrain from gambling and alcohol. Wuppertal’s police have begun pressing charges. “Sharia law is not tolerated on German soil,” de Maizière told mass-circulation daily Bild on Saturday. “Nobody can take it upon themselves to abuse the good name of the German police.”...

Charges of unlawful assembly and use of uniform in public were brought against 11 members of a group trying to enforce aspects of strict Islamic Sharia law in the North Rhine-Westphalia city, a spokeswoman for the Wuppertal police told The Local. Officers stopped the 11-man group on the street on Wednesday. Some were wearing orange vests bearing the words 'Shariah Police', in violation of federal German law, the spokeswoman said. The group has been stopping young people at local drinking and gambling establishments and urging them to abstain from activities deemed to be ungodly according to Islam. The Wednesday incident...

A wave of anti-Semitism in Germany, unleashed by the Gaza crisis, shows no sign of abating. A synagogue was attacked on Tuesday morning, a rabbi received death threats and anti-Jewish comments online have increased. Attacks on mosques have also risen. Attackers threw Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in the western city of Wuppertal in the early hours of Tuesday in an apparent attempt to burn it down. A neighbour alarmed police after spotting flames near the Bergische Synagogue in Gemarker Straße in the eastern district of Barmen at around 2.15 am. Police said they believed three young arsonists had thrown...