Around 1,100 protesters stormed the streets of Hamburg’s St. Georg neighborhood on Saturday April 27 in a show of Islamist power in which they called for the establishment of a Caliphate in Germany. According to the German authorities, the event was organized by the twenty-six-year-old convert to Islam Joe Adade Boateng, of a Ghanaian father and German mother, who calls himself Raheem Boateng and who animates the extremist group “Muslim Interaktiv”. In the images and videos that have gone viral, a crowd of Islamist protesters can be seen gathering along the busy Steindamm Street in the heart of the city. Numerous participants are holding placards and posters with slogans such as “Germany = dictatorship of values”, “Kalifat ist die Lösung (The Caliphate is the solution)” and “Palestine has won the information war”. According to German media reports, during the demonstration the crowd also chanted “Allahu Akbar”. According to German media reports, the speakers called for the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Germany. In one of the videos that went viral, a speaker can be heard describing the caliphate as “a system that guarantees security but which is hated and demonized in Germany”, prompting cheers from the crowd with chants of “Allahu Akbar”. The Islamists present at the demonstration declared that the motto of the event was «Do not obey liars», while the organizers stated that «the objective of the protest was to contest the Islamophobic policies of the German Government and the media campaigns that would spread disinformation about Muslims in Germany, especially during the coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas.” These are obviously lies spread by Islamist circles which are spread not only in Germany but also in France and England, just to name a few. Protesters displayed posters criticizing German media such as Bild, WELT, Spiegel, Focus and Tagesschau, all accusing them “of being deaf, dumb and blind to our cause”. A representative of Muslim Interaktiv had previously called on Instagram for a “demonstration against incitement to Islam by the media.”
Who is Raheem Boateng?
Boateng is a German citizen who converted to Islam in 2015 and is now a self-styled imam. According to Hamburger Abendblatt, the man is studying to become a teacher at the University of Hamburg, but on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok he is active as a sort of Islamic influencer. As mentioned, Boateng is also a member of Muslim Interaktiv, an organization officially designated by the National Security Service (BfV) as an “established extremist group” but despite this status the group is not banned in Germany. However, security authorities can take measures against members of the group using all available intelligence tools, including surveillance and wiretaps. Furthermore, according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Hamburg, Muslim Interaktiv is considered an ideological wing of the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT), which aims to establish a caliphate: a dictatorship based on Sharia law. The group has been banned since 2003, as per the report. According to German media, Muslim Interaktiv aims to radicalize young Muslims in Germany in particular by addressing their problems perceived as discrimination and to do so they present a seemingly simple solution, pushing young people to choose or prioritize between two identities: Muslim or German .
Islamist demonstrations and calls for the establishment of a Caliphate in Germany have raised concerns among German politicians. Kazim Abaci, the spokesperson for the migration policy of the Social Democratic faction in the Hamburg parliament, called it “unbearable” that Islamists were allowed to march freely in the streets. Similarly, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported that Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the neighboring German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has called for “a ban on Muslim Interaktiv for a long time.” The images of veiled women and bearded men calling for the end of democracy and the adoption of the Caliphate in our home cannot help but frighten because today there are a thousand and tomorrow how many will there be, taking into account the numbers of Muslims present in Europe and the continuous arrivals? We ask the Honorable Sara Kelany, head of the Immigration Department of Fratelli d’Italia: «The danger of organizations of this type is clearly evident, especially in a historical moment like the one we are experiencing, in which the resurgence of the conflict in Israel Anti-Semitic impulses are also moving in Europe, disguised as facade anti-Zionism. Therefore, leaving the field open to Islamic extremists who call for jihad is not only unacceptable because it goes against the fundamental values and principles of the West, but it represents an objective national security problem. These preachers of hate, in fact, can move the instincts of the so-called lone wolves, who due to a spirit of emulation are led to commit crazy and bloody acts even without the structured support of terrorist organizations. We must therefore keep our guard up.” And what can we do to stop this dangerous trend? «From the point of view of internal security – continues Sara Kelany – our government has raised the alert, especially to protect synagogues and sensitive places, and is certainly ready to respond to any possible threat. From a cultural point of view we must clearly state that it is unacceptable to give space to any demonstration in which hatred is praised and which sponsors Islamic fundamentalism. The European identity seems to be under attack by those who would like to export the obscurantist fundamentalist model, but we have the antibodies to resist and we will not allow this drift to overwhelm us.”
