By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor.
In September of 2014 we featured an article describing how a squad of uniformed, self appointed “Sharia Police”. Several young adults wearing orange reflective jackets embossed with the words “Shariah Police” began foot patrols of the central district of the German city Wuppertal, harassing who they perceived to be Muslim who were frequenting discos and gambling establishments.
The group held that they were promoting their Salafist beliefs and chastising others who deviated from the tenets of the religion–by consuming alcohol and engaging in gambling entertainment.
The state sought to bring criminal charges against a group of Sharia Police for violating statutes relating to the patrols. Now, the Düsseldorf State Court ruled that eight of the nine accused men can face trial for “violating laws against wearing uniforms with political messages.”
The founder of the Shariah Police, thirty three year old Sven Lau claims the Shariah Police never existed and that the group was only a few men spending a few hours bringing attention to the issue of Sharia law in Germany.
Deutsche Welle reported in 2014 Lau is a leading member of Germany’s Salafist movement, advocates of a strict Sunni interpretation of political Islam. He works with a mosque in his native Mönchengladbach, not far west of Wuppertal, and used to head the fundamentalist group “Invitation to Paradise.” (Einladung zum Paradies, in German.)
Sven Lau has reportedly been under watch by German security agencies and law enforcement for some time. He was targeted by a prosecutor for seditious acts according to The Focus Online. Lau proffered in a television interview that he and his followers stay within the bounds of the law but that anything else is on the table. Government officials have alleged in February that Lau might be supporting, at least in advocacy, Syrian militia fighters that could be linked to ISIS.
In December of 2015, Mr Lau was indicted by the German State for allegedly providing material support to terrorist organizations (Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar) in Syria.
Authorities were notified originally when people complained of the Shariah Police passing out literature demanding others observe a code of conduct as well as demands that Muslims abstain from alcohol, music, dancing, pornography, prostitution, and drugs. But the matter went from there when the Shariah Police were contacted by the actual police who detained eleven of the group.
Wuppertal Police then issued a statement promising to crack down on vigilantism or any other group proffering itself as a police agency.
“The state has an exclusive monopoly on the use of [police] force,” reminded local police Chief Birgitta Radermacher. “Any conduct that intimidates, provokes or makes people insecure will not be tolerated. These ‘Sharia Police’ have no legitimacy,” she added.
The prosecution of these men holds that political groups are prohibited from wearing uniforms in public, certainly this is due to the denazification measures in post WWII Germany. During the Nazi era (and in the decade prior), groups such as the Sturmabteilung or Brown Shirts as they were commonly referred to, were organized as a para-military organization of the Nazi Party, an infamous and brutal machine of repression and criminality.
Currently the German State finds a worrisome analogue in the Sharia Police. While it is clearly not at the level of the Brown Shirts, the notion of a uniformed organization enforcing arbitrary values on others and seeking to gain compliance with their form of religion or politics is something the state certainly will want to stop at the shortest possible time, lest a repeat of forming a much larger problem later.
There are of course free speech concerns that the state is prohibiting an act which the defendants might argue is merely an expression of their values and is nothing more. Yet, even within the United States some states prohibit vehicles or uniforms displaying the words “Police” or “Law Enforcement Officer” in that it conveys on official state agent or function.
One example of this is Chapter 18.170 of the Revised Code of Washington which prohibits security guards from wearing uniforms or insignia that indicate a police of law enforcement officer.
RCW 18.170.160
[…]
(6) It is a gross misdemeanor for a person to possess or use any vehicle or equipment displaying the word “police” or “law enforcement officer” or having any sign, shield, marking, accessory, or insignia that indicates that the equipment or vehicle belongs to a public law enforcement agency.(7) It is a gross misdemeanor for any person who performs the functions and duties of a private security guard to use any name that includes the word “police” or “law enforcement” or that portrays the individual or a business as a public law enforcement agency.
By Darren Smith
Source: Deutsche Welle
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
@Spinelli –
“However, free speech in Europe is dead. Try handing out literature of the prophet in kama sutra positions.”
Free speech is dying in Europe mainly because of the actions of governments (as Prof. Turley has relentlessly been documenting), not Muslim terrorists. If the “Sharia Police” weren’t using intimidation, this case is yet another example, and it should have been framed that way. That’s the way Turley would see it, I’d bet.
Sharia is night the day to God’s law that Jesus kept trying to say it is God’s law, lying. Quran imitates God’s law not being God’s law. Lucifer is the great imitator masquerading as who he is not. Religon is one. It is Jesus in the person obeying love whoever as yourself. Sharia is the opposite to that. Sharia is terrorize whoever. Sharia is defiled religion. Jesus is undefiled religon .Galatians 6:2 2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Romans 13:10: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The KJV Cambridge editor bible 1611 or 1900. Jesus quotes pharisaical law in verse 34 and 35 in 1 Corinthians 14. Jesus chastises them in verse 36 saying,” what, came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?” Jesus is saying this: truth comes to both sexes.
12 places in KJV says the heart figuratively is to be circumcised not the sexual organs at all. Deuteronomy 30:6, Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4, Jeremiah 9:26; Colossians 2:11-15; Acts 7:51;Leviticus 26:41;Romans 2:29, Romans 3: 30, ROMANS 2:25. 1611 King James Version of Galatians 6:15:For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. Romans: 4:11 “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:”
If someone seems to be Muslim because of their language and physical features, that doesn’t give others the right to force onto them any specific way of thinking. The Sharia Police probably just need education in comparative religion and comparative political ideas. Maybe they have never heard of the notion that religion is a system made up by men for use in controlling other men.
Sharia is night the day to God’s law that Jesus kept trying to say bit is God’s law, lying. Quran imitates God’s law not being God’s law. Lucifer is the great imitator masquerading as who he is not. Religon is one. It is Jesus in the person obeying love whoever as yourself. Sharia is the opposite to that. Sharia is terrorize whoever. Sharia is defiled religion. Jesus is undefiled religon .Galatians 6:2 2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Romans 13:10: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The KJV Cambridge editor bible 1611 or 1900. Jesus quotes pharisaical law in verse 34 and 35 in 1 Corinthians 14. Jesus chastises them in verse 36 saying,” what, came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?” Jesus is saying this: truth comes to both sexes.
12 places in KJV says the heart figuratively is to be circumcised not the sexual organs at all. Deuteronomy 30:6, Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4, Jeremiah 9:26; Colossians 2:11-15; Acts 7:51;Leviticus 26:41;Romans 2:29, Romans 3: 30, ROMANS 2:25. 1611 King James Version of Galatians 6:15:For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. Romans: 4:11 “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:”
There comes a point, regardless of freedoms of speech or other expressions, when one allies oneself with thugs like ISIS and other Islamic extremists that have openly declared that they want to slaughter all who won’t follow sharia law, and on top of that creates a police force expounding this cause, these people simply become dangerous and enemies of the state. You can dance around the finer points until the next bomb goes off, or the next daughter has her throat cut by her brother or her father for wanting to be real, or the next unfortunate person actually does express themselves; but in the end the freedoms of speech, etc that need protecting are those very freedoms under attack by these mindless thugs. Sometimes you have to identify the real threat to the freedoms and take them out. Protecting the freedoms of speech, etc by an umbrella that protects those very thugs attempting to destroy our freedoms is the oxymoronic condition within which we reside.
A thought-provoking issue, Darren. As for the constitutionality of laws here prohibiting use of the word “police” or “law enforcement” by the general public, they’re reasonably related to a health and safety issue, so I don’t have a problem with it.
As for Sharia Police otherwise, to me it’s primarily a civil harassment matter and in a civilized society restraining orders for such duress are deserved in addition to criminal charges if there’s physical contact or terrorist threats, etc.
Sharia Guardian Angels. If these fascists are merely handing out literature than that is indeed protected under free speech. However, free speech in Europe is dead. Try handing out literature of the prophet in kama sutra positions.
In the article, the worst that the “Sharia Police” are accused of is “harassing [those] who they perceived to be Muslim who were frequenting discos and gambling establishments.” But to make a judgment about this case, one needs to know exactly what form the harassment took. Was there physical intimidation or not? Were the “police” making threats? Were they blocking people’s paths? If there was no physical intimidation, and the harassment was only verbal (similar to US anti-abortion protests, for example) – if they were only “passing out literature demanding others observe a code of conduct” – then the accused should be defended on free speech grounds. But it’s impossible to take a position without knowing whether the harassment included intimidation. The author is remiss in failing to clarify this key point (both here and in the 2014 article).
Establishing an independent police force is an act of treason. There is but one authority, the police of the democratically elected establishment, regardless of how some may transgress or fall short. When individual citizens, or residents band together to perform these duties of authority they are placing their concepts and perspectives above the law. They should be charged under the laws that protect citizens and residents from anarchists, traitors, etc. Sharia law is treason when exercised in a secular or non Muslim country. This, above wearing bedsheets, towels, etc is the real problem. These guys should do at least ten years in the slammer or be repatriated to a sand box somewhere to the south.
Maybe the West is not doomed to Islamic extremism after all. If vigilantism is needed to prevent falling to the corruption of Western values, then what is there to worry about?
From another angle though, I couldn’t help comparing or seeing the similarity between the Sharia police in Germany and the political correct police in the US. How is the author so quick to condem “the notion of a uniformed organization enforcing arbitrary values on others and seeking to gain compliance with their form of religion or politics is something the state certainly will want to stop at the shortest possible time,” but at the same time so easily hands out free passes to militant activists who impose their will and way on everyone with no exceptions? Take illegal immigration, for example. Militant activist are openly parading as politicians, operating under authority of sanctuary cities, and even ruling as judges, yet there is no outcry from half the nation that is perfectly content with breaking laws that have been on the books for centuries. We are a nation of rule of law, but if you do not have rule of law, you do not have a nation.
Theocrats of every relgion are dangerous. Anyone who attempts to enforce religous laws on the public should be arrested for intimidation…..lets start with a few of our state legislatures, a governor or two and some embers of the Senate and the House!
As for Mr. Lau, I suggest an all expense paid one way ticket to Saudi Arabia or even better an ISIS held territory where he will quickly learn how well he will get along with his Sunni brothers.
Religion is tyranny.
There is defiled religon.There is undefiled religon. Defiled religon was against Jesus. You know what they did. What they did and wanted to do seen today in the state and in defiled religions being against people who are against no one.
This would be a solution. Form an SS squad. Round up all Muslims in that area of Germany. Put them on the train to Auschwitz. When they get there do not kill them but indoctrinate them in Christianity. Then, send them to Syria on a refugee ship that is headed the wrong way. Yeah, towards Syria. Have the Germany Navy do this. Offload them onshore. Tell them that if they come back to Europe they will be rounded up a second time and will go back to Auschwitz for round two. In the second round give them each a round in the head. Burn the bodies. Spread the ashes in the Rhine. Don’t let em whine. Make em drink wine. Get em drunk every day for the entire time they are in custody. Make em use toilet paper with photos of Prophet Mahomed on the paper.
Here’s the problem: harassing who they perceived to be Muslim who were frequenting discos and gambling establishments.
Wasp out Muslim for Jews: harassing who they perceived to be Jews who were frequenting discos and gambling establishments.
Lets analogize this to America, land of the free, home of the brave.
First of all we need to see some wordage: STATES RIGHTS!
When the federal government intervenes in Georgia to stop a lynching, to to prosecute a bunch of KKK lynchers who might also be county sheriff deputies, or to allow a black kid to go to a white school, the free thinkers scream STATES RIGHTS! It can be one word. This goes back to the Civil War and then the Reconstruction Era just after the war. After Reconstruction was over and the federal government and troops left Georgia and other Southern States there was an adoption of Jim Crow laws.
This muslim organization in Germany is akin to the Klan. Pure (and they mean to be pure) and simple. If the German governments on both state and national levels do not stop the Muslim Klan then they can be called Re Nazified. This means that they go along with it. Heil Abbdula.
This clearly violates the law. Several months in a cushy German prison should straighten them out.
Meanwhile splc uses a wholly extrjudicial method to change law….hey don’t appeal the chain of command of marbury v madison….just take it to the ethics board. Bingo. Sharia.
AND why are their vests not emblazoned in ARABIC? The people they are hassling probably can not read English.
This is a false flag. Theatre for the press dumb enough not to see it for the propaganda that it is….
Jonathan, you’re a Chicago guy, methinks. Check some genealogy sites to see if Swen Lau, is related to the legendary MLB hitting coach, Charlie Lau. If you don’t remember Charlie, e-mail Tony LaRussa, an attorney and HOF (soon to be), and ask him about his appearance at a Chicago Bar Association luncheon during the MLB strike of 1981. I will give you a hint, your respondent asked him to reminisce about his last moment as a player in the MLB. One more hint, opening day 1973 with the Cubs. Over and out. P.S. Jonathan, ask Tony about the incident when he and Charlie Lau confronted Jimmy Piersall at the Channel 44 (WFLD) studios after a White Sox home game, referencing horny broads and baseball players. Tony was quite offended. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
Interesting borderline issue regarding the right to wear uniforms of political messages versus you are mistaken to be a police officer. You would have to be pretty stupid to mistake those bozos as police officers.
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