CGTN
German police launched pre-dawn raids across the country on properties allegedly linked to Hamas and another pro-Palestinian organisation, Samidoun. Both groups are banned in the country, with Hamas listed as a terrorist organization by Berlin and the European Union.
The raids targeted 15 properties across four states – Berlin, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Schleswig-Holstein. Eleven of the raids were in the capital, according to information released by the German Interior Ministry which ordered the investigation.
In an official statement Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: “We are carrying out action against radical Islamists. By banning Hamas and Samidoun in Germany, we have sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any apology or support for Hamas’s barbaric terror against Israel.”
She added: “Islamists and antisemites must not feel safe anywhere.”
On November 2, the Interior Ministry took the step of banning both organisations. The Ministry says there are 450 Hamas members currently in Germany whose activities include raising money for the group and shaping Hamas’s message in the country.
Reichsbuerger Return
Also on Thursday, around 280 police carried out separate raids across eight of the German Federal States targeting the far-right Reichsbuerger Movement.
Twenty homes were targeted, according to Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, who said that officers had retrieved alarm guns, riot control agents, smartphones and data storage devices during the raids.
The raids were based on plans that prosecutors say were circulated using the Telegram messaging app. Joachim Herrmann told the press these plans “massively threatened” state institutions. No new arrests were made on Thursday.
