German security agencies have announced that armed Islamists affiliated with ISIS are attempting to stir up trouble in Germany ahead of the UEFA European Championship (Euro 2024). According to security sources on Tuesday, recent calls for “terrorist violence” disseminated by the ISIS branch in Khorasan Province are part of an ongoing propaganda campaign aimed at inciting chaos and radicalizing lone wolves.
The group had earlier posted an image resembling a video game showing a man holding a firearm inside a stadium. A similar post had emerged a few weeks prior, coinciding with matches in the UEFA Champions League.
Meanwhile, hundreds took to the streets in Hamburg on Saturday to protest against Islamism, antisemitism, and to express support for the liberal values of the constitutional democratic system in Germany. The demonstration in Hamburg was supposed to serve as a counter-rally to a march organized by Islamists the previous week, which sparked anger across the country. Participants in the Islamist march had called for the establishment of a so-called caliphate.
The term “Islamism” is used to describe political or social trends that advocate the application of Islamic law as a political system. According to the police, around 800 people participated in the counter-demonstration, with organizers expecting up to a thousand participants. Ali Erten Toprak, the national president of the Kurdish Community Advocacy Group, which represents Kurds in Germany and helped organize the march, stated, “No one harms the Islamic religion and Muslims more than the Islamists themselves.”
At the same time, Toprak accused politicians of neglecting the problem of political Islam for a long time out of fear of anti-Muslim sentiments, leaving it to right-wing populists.
