Following investigations against the “Islamic Center Hamburg” (IHZ), three club premises and two residential addresses were searched in Berlin on Thursday. “The aim is to find evidence of the club structures surrounding the “Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg e.V.” association,” Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger told the German Press Agency on Thursday morning. “The association is suspected of going against the constitutional order and the idea of international understanding. According to the current state of knowledge, the association also receives non-material support from a network active in Berlin.”
“But I would like to clearly emphasize that hostility to Israel, which is capable of denigrating Jews and Israeli citizens and spreading fear and hatred, is not offered a platform in Berlin and in the entire Federal Republic of Germany,” she continued.
According to a spokeswoman, 160 police forces were deployed in Berlin to implement the measures. “I ask for your understanding that, given the BMI’s pending investigation, no further information will be provided about specific findings,” Spranger continued. The searches have been running since Thursday morning at 6 a.m. in Hamburg, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.
