Month: October 2022
Germany: Stabbing attacks in Ludwigshafen – 2 dead – perpetrator stabbed passers-by indiscriminately
UPDATE:
Perpetrator is Somali
Police operation in Rhineland-Palatinate: Two people were attacked with a knife. Both were killed.
Two people were killed and another seriously injured in a knife attack in Ludwigshafen. The suspected perpetrator was shot and seriously injured during the arrest, a spokeswoman for the Rheinpfalz police headquarters said on Tuesday. The 25-year-old alleged perpetrator was apprehended a short time later by a police patrol in a drugstore. During the arrest, the man was shot and seriously injured.
The background of the crime, the exact course of events and the possible motive are still completely unclear. “We are investigating in all directions,” said the spokeswoman of the police headquarters.
The police had initially announced that the officers had been called in because of a knife attack. When the perpetrator was arrested, shots were fired. According to initial findings, the 25-year-old had attacked several people with a knife on the street around noon. “Two persons died of their injuries,” said the police spokeswoman.
The police spoke of two crime scenes. The place of arrest is in the middle of the Oggersheim district. Nearby are other shops, including a supermarket, and a tram stop. Schools as well as kindergartens are also in the vicinity.
A police spokeswoman said the suspect initially fled after the knife attack. A police patrol took up the pursuit and was able to arrest the man. In the process, the man was shot. It is unclear how seriously the perpetrator and the surviving victim were injured.
Amidst anti-hijab protests in Iran, Iranian sports climber Elnaz Rekabi goes missing after competing in Seoul without a hijab
Protests against mandatory hijab have been raging across Iran since the murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the ‘morality police’ for her inappropriate hijab. Women of all ages, and all backgrounds, have put their foot down and revolted against the Ayatollahs for imposing the hijab on them. Sportswoman Elnaz Rekabi also decided to make a statement when she competed without a hijab at her event in Seoul, South Korea, but it seems to have landed her in trouble.
While competing at the Asian Sport Climbing Championships on Sunday, Elnaz Rekabi refused to wear a hijab and competed without it. Even when competing outside Iran, Iranian athletes are required to wear a hijab as per the Ayatollah regime. However, 33-year-old Elnaz Rekabi shunned the Islamic Republic’s restrictions while representing her country.
Even though Rekabi couldn’t win a medal and finished fourth, her brave stand made headlines across the world and gave hope to millions of persecuted women. Last year, Rekabi created history when she became the first Iranian woman to win a medal at the sport climbing world championships. Unfortunately, since Monday evening, Rekabi is no longer traceable and has gone missing because this time she chose to compete without a hijab.
The athletes taking part in this event were due to return to Iran on Wednesday. However, as per the information provided to BBC Persia by sources, Elnaz Rekabi was forced to give up her passport and mobile phone in Seoul by the Iranian authorities. Since then, she hasn’t been heard from by her friends and family.
Meanwhile, BBC World Service presenter Rana Rahimpour tweeted on Tuesday morning that Rekabi was already on a plane bound for Tehran. She was removed from other athletes, and sent to Tehran ahead of schedule.
Anti-Hijab protests in Iran
The ongoing protests in Iran began after a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini died on September 16 in Tehran. She was arrested and tortured by the ‘Morality Police’ for wearing the hijab inappropriately on September 13, 2022. Iranian media reported that Amini fell into a state of coma and was eventually declared brain dead.
Mahsa Amini succumbed to her injuries on September 16. Following her death, there have been large-scale women-led protests in Iran. Videos of women surfaced where they cut off their hair and burnt hijab as a mark of protest against the enforcement of compulsory hijab for women.
France: In Lyon, the École normale supérieure faces accusations of ” favouring Islam” after the institution banned Catholic chaplaincy a few years earlier
Politicians from the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes region have protested against the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), which is accused of ” favouring Islam ” because of the conspicuous presence of a Muslim religious association on its premises. The school had banned Catholic chaplaincy only a few years earlier. A research.
Is this a new manifestation of the Islamic entrism that has been rampant in many schools in France since the beginning of the school year? This question arises again, this time on the Lyon campus of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), where an association officially calling itself the Muslim Association of the ENS Lyon (AMENS) appeared at the beginning of the new school year in September. Apart from the obvious violation of secularism, it is the double standard that is causing outrage among some elected representatives, as Catholic chaplaincy has been denied access to the institution since 2020.
Isabelle Surply, MP for the Freedom, Identity, Sovereignty group in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and already known for having initiated the expulsion of an Islamist imam from a mosque in Saint-Chamond a few months earlier, was made aware of the incidents. The councillor, who otherwise presents herself as a whistleblower in the field of the fight against Islamism, immediately alerted the regional governing bodies about the presence of AMENS at the forum of associations of Normal Sup. In an email to the Vice-President for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, as well as to the cabinet of the regional president Laurent Wauquiez, the councillor expressed her astonishment that the association could be admitted by the school administration, which is contrary to the principle of secularity in force at the school. Thus, Article 43 of the school’s regulations recalls the prohibition of expressing religious beliefs. In fact, and in contrast to other secondary schools, this provision also applies to pupils “who have the status of probationary civil servants by virtue of the provisions of the Special Statute”, the text continues. This status commits pupils to a number of obligations that also apply to civil servants, including strict adherence to secularity. The presence of the association therefore raises questions, since it officially presents itself as a religious association whose particular aim is “to discover Muslim culture and practice” and “to enable the school’s Muslims to live out their spirituality to the full”.
The presence of AMENS raises all the more questions today because a few years earlier, the Catholic chaplaincy of ENS had been asked to operate outside the premises. In 2020, the school had referred to the cultic nature of the association and categorised it as a “political or religious organisation” to justify its exclusion. Therefore, it is only a small step to see in it today an “Islamic favouritism”, as Isabelle Surply puts it. The 80 members of the chaplaincy continue their activities today in the church of Notre Dame des Anges in the 6th arrondissement, outraged by the presence of an association whose statutes, however, are clear. “I deplore the fact that there is confusion about the famous laicism. It would be good if the same policy applied to all: either you resume pastoral care or you exclude the Muslim association. It is astonishing that in a country like France, a Muslim association in a large school is better accepted than a Catholic chaplaincy.” An inconsistency also pointed out by Isabelle Surply, who called on the association to “change its statutes” in order to be readmitted to the ENS. “All or none,” she said. Valeurs
Eva Vlaardingerbroek says young girls are being ‘sacrificed on the altar of mass migration’
Confidential memo: Dutch asylum crisis continues with 10 000 homeless in January
The crisis surrounding the reception of asylum seekers will certainly not be resolved before the end of the year. There is expected to be a shortfall of at least 10 000 reception places by 1 January. This is according to the transition plan of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) seen by RTL News‘ political editor.
This is remarkable because the core of the refugee deal that state secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) signed with municipalities stipulates that on 1 January 2023, municipalities would no longer be responsible for crisis emergency reception, but that the COA would take over.
Part of the problem is that many of the emergency shelters are only temporary. On January 1, many of those temporary leases expire. Therefore, according to forecasts, there were still 52 720 places at the beginning of October, but only 45 800 available places by January 1. A big drop, in other words. And since the expected occupancy on 1 January is at least 56 200, that would mean a shortage of over 10 000 places.
Crisis emergency reception
According to COA, the influx of migrants remains high. To stick to the deal, COA would have to have 51 000 places available by the end of this year. The documents seen by RTL News stated that this number would not be met.
Therefore, crisis emergency accommodation will remain necessary even after January 1. According to the COA, there is not enough time left: “It is not realistic to assume that this will be realised in this short time.”
That means municipalities will remain responsible for emergency asylum reception for longer than they had planned. “As long as the national reception capacity as a whole is not yet sufficient, there can be no question of reducing (crisis) emergency reception locations,” COA noted in the leaked report.
Safe countries
A potential sticking point in this confidential memo is also that COA stated that “no restrictions can apply to any country”. This is official language to inform municipalities that they must accommodate all asylum seekers, including those from so-called safe countries (applicants with no or little chance of asylum). This is a political nightmare for the mainstream, which could mean a loss of public support.
In addition, COA is also facing a staff shortage. Currently, COA has 800 vacancies. This too jeopardises the objectives of the asylum deal.
Astonishment
Lower House member Jasper van Dijk (SP) is dismayed that the asylum body is once again failing to honour agreements. “In August this plan was presented with much fanfare, and so now we see that there may be more than 10 000 places short. So the problems are definitely not stopping.”
That may not have been so bad if the other deal that Van der Burg had struck with the municipalities had been honoured. Some 20 000 houses were supposed to have been provided for “status holders” – those with a residence permit who are entitled to a house. They now occupy places in overflowing asylum shelters with no other option but to stay put.
COA figures showed that, since July, 7 730 permit holders have found a place in a municipality. And that is insufficient according to the COA: “At the rate of outflow since 1 July, the outflow of 20 000 permit holders is a long way off.”
Political dynamite
For Van Dijk at least, “the solution is very obvious”. He believes that asylum seekers should be distributed across the Netherlands. But this would undoubtedly be a huge boon to anti-immigration parties since they do not want the newcomers in their communities. He blamed the “unwillingness on the part of the cabinet”. The fact is that the cabinet would lose their power grip if they forged ahead with this plan.
In fact, the cabinet has been wrangling for weeks over a new law that could force municipalities to take in asylum seekers. In doing so, the state secretary found his own party rallying against him, as the VVD does not want municipalities to be forced into an unpopular decision.
A compromise therefore seems to be in the works whereby all municipalities must start accepting asylum seekers, and a system of rewards will apply to municipalities that take more than their quota.
State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) acknowledged in a reaction that there would be a shortage in January. “Yes, we are currently thousands of reception places short for the start of the new year and it remains a crisis. With the security regions, we are working hard every day to make up for the shortages. The reality is that problems built up over years cannot be solved in months. Meanwhile, we make an urgent appeal to municipalities to make sufficient places available. We are offering municipalities support in every way possible in this regard and are putting everything in place in the coming months to work together to ensure sufficient places.”
German government plans to take in 1,000 ‘endangered’ Afghans per month despite poor integration record
Germany’s center-left “traffic light coalition” has launched a new asylum program for “particularly vulnerable Afghans” despite Afghans having one of the poorest integration records of any migrant group in the country.
“We are acting and fulfilling our humanitarian responsibility. On the basis of defined admission criteria, we can offer protection to particularly endangered and vulnerable persons from Afghanistan,” Federal Minister of Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) said when announcing the program on Monday.
At the same time, the minister said she was monitoring municipalities’ ability to receive and integrate refugees because many are already burdened by the over 1 million refugees who arrived in Germany this year, daily Junge Freiheit reports.
Currently, 12 of 16 German states are blocking the intake of new refugees due to strained social services, overflowing classrooms, and a lack of accommodation options. Afghans, in particular, have posted a problem in the past. As Remix News previously reported, in 2020, 21,773 crimes were recorded from the Afghan community, including 94 murders and homicides. In the same year, German citizens were suspected of more than 1.3 million crimes recorded but with 72 million German citizens, this represents a crime rate of 1.8 percent. In the case of serious acts, it is 0.002 percent. In the case of Afghans, these figures are 7.8 percent and 0.03 percent, respectively.
According to statistics from the Federal Labor Office published by the daily Die Welt, of the roughly 280,000 German Afghans, 69,000 have jobs, amounting to about one in four. However, in this regard, they do better than other major migrant groups, including Syrians. Germany’s Afghan population represents the fourth-largest Afghan diaspora in the world.
Despite these issues, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) described the program to bring in more Afghan refugees as an opportunity to give “a bit of hope” to women and girls in particular, who suffered under the rule of the Islamist Taliban, and “the chance to live in freedom, self-determination and security.”
Traffic light coalition wants to bring in 1,000 Afghans a month
The program’s target group, according to the federal government, are Afghans who are particularly exposed and therefore individually at risk because of their service to the former government, which collapsed after the U.S. withdrew its forces and the Taliban quickly came to power. It should also benefit Afghan citizens who are threatened because of their gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The new intake of refugees will additionally consist of individuals who are at risk of becoming “victims of homophobic or transphobic human rights abuses.”
The vice president of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens), praised the program on Twitter, saying that since many human rights defenders are still threatened by the Taliban, it offers hope.
According to the statement, the plans of the traffic light coalition include taking in about 1,000 “particularly endangered Afghans” and their family members every month. So far, some 38,100 people have been promised admission to Germany. Of these, around 26,000 Afghans are already in the Federal Republic.
Pakistan: 14-year-old Hindu teenager kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to her abductor
Sindh province in Pakistan has been the hotbed of religious persecution, especially for those belonging to minority Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities. In recent years, there has been a wave of incidents where minor girls have been abducted and forcefully converted to Islam. In the most recent case, a 14-year-old Hindu girl was forcefully married to a Muslim man after converting to Islam, reports Firstpost.
The incident took place in the Islamkot tehsil in the Tharparkar district in Sindh, Pakistan. According to the report, the teenage girl was abducted from the village. A cleric named Samaru Pir Jan Sirhandi thereafter facilitated the forced conversion, after which she was forcefully married to her abductor Shaukat, son of Murad Hanhrjo, her family members alleged.
The incident reportedly happened as Hindus in Pakistan’s Hyderabad haven taken to the streets to protest the forced religious conversion of their girls and boys. The protesters have been demanding immediate legislation on the issue of the abduction of minority girls.
Hindus in Pakistan live in perpetual fear of persecution at the hands of the Muslim majority. News reports of Hindu women kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to their abductors have become par for the course across the length and breadth of Pakistan but particularly stark in the southern province of Sindh. Even courts and judiciary have failed in providing justice to the Hindus as they had, in many cases, sided with the abductors and ordered Hindu women to live with their kidnappers. And not just women, but men too have been the victim of Islamic conversions in Pakistan.
In another similar incident, a Hindu man was forcibly converted to Islam by a cleric in the Sindh province of Pakistan on October 9. The victim was identified as Ajay Kumar. Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro, the General Secretary of Jamiat Ulama-e-Sindh, facilitated the forced conversion at the Jamia Islamia Masjid in Larkana city of Sindh.
Mass conversion of Hindus in Sindh, Pakistan
In July last year, Opindia reported that as many as 60 Hindus were converted en masse to Islam in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
Similarly, in the year 2020, as many as 171 Hindu men, women and children belonging to the highly marginalised and socio-economically backward Bhil community have forcefully been converted to Islam in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
Germany: An Egyptian known to the police attempted to kidnap a German baby and is immediately released
This man tried to kidnap a baby, and was nevertheless let go after his arrest.
The scene of the crime was Gaussig in eastern Saxony, where a 29-year-old Egyptian man approached a property where a pram was standing. Suddenly he stormed off, pushed the parents aside and wanted to run away with the pram and the baby.
“The father and some witnesses prevented the suspect from leaving with the baby. They overpowered him and called the police,” a police spokesman said on Monday.
The officers took the 29-year-old Egyptian to the police station and charged him with attempted child abduction. On the instructions of the public prosecutor’s office, he was allowed to leave after the police measures were completed.
This was despite the fact that the same man had already attracted attention on Friday evening when he also tried to steal a man’s mobile phone in Gaussig. He had already been charged with robbery.
But that was not all: on Sunday, the Egyptian again provoked the police. A witness saw him running along a street in the afternoon holding stones in his hands. When a police patrol arrived, he tried to flee, throwing fist-sized stones at the officers. The police officers chased him for about half an hour and were finally able to catch him.
They initiated a preliminary investigation for threats, coercion, dangerous bodily harm, resistance and assault on law enforcement officers.
But now he was not let go again: An emergency doctor finally admitted the man to a specialist hospital.
German Red-Greens want to change language on immigration
Policing language on immigration is the latest idea from the Greens, the Left Party and the SPD. The CDU/CSU, however, find the attempt to introduce “speech bans” on asylum issues problematic but have no means to stop such measures.
Julian Pahlke has been active in sea rescue for almost six years on the rescue ship Iuventa operating the Mediterranean. His volunteers operating a migrant taxi service, have already picked up 14 000 illegals.
According to Pahlke, it doesn’t matter whether someone is fleeing bombs from Ukraine or Syria, because “there are no social tourists” as “no one leaves their country because of a little welfare”. There is also no illegal immigration, because there is no legal immigration from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan either.
The notion of a welfare “pull factor” is also wrong since it is “part of the agitation against refugees”.
Talking about “pull factors” is “scientifically wrong”, according to Hakan Demir of the SPD. If there were a material incentive for refugees, “all Ukrainians would have come to Germany immediately”.
Such people “for us it is an opportunity on the labour market”, said Demir.
Helge Lindh, elected to the Bundestag for the Social Democrats in Wuppertal, denounced anyone questioning the new language rules as “National Socialists”. Lindh said the CDU/CSU Union’s language on migration issues is “indecent” and that it was dishonest to claim that rejected asylum seekers were “freeloaders” because most of them do not work. However, no one during the Bundestag debate had claimed that either, not from the Union, and neither from the AfD.
Katrin Göring-Eckard (Greens), Vice-President of the German Bundestag, said that whoever talked about “social tourism” like Friedrich Merz (CDU) was doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin. “Push and pull”, these are “imaginary factors”. It’s “like an imaginary disease, it’s nonsense”.
Göring-Eckard lauded Angela Merkel’s asylum policy, including her “We can do it”. The Bundestag has increasingly morphed into a punitive cult of moral righteousness.
Giving the illegal immigration discussion a different spin through the use of language, is a major socio-political attempt to distort reality. The chances of this succeeding are quite good, especially since there are journalists eager to advance such notions. In talk shows on German television, the attention is already diverted away from the current increase in migrant numbers to the language used to discuss the issue.
https://freewestmedia.com/2022/10/18/german-red-greens-wants-to-change-language-on-immigration/