The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the association Islamic Centre Fürstenwalde as a confirmed extremist organisation. This was announced by Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU) and the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jörg Müller, in Potsdam on Wednesday. The “al-Salam” mosque run by the association was also classified as an extremist observation object.
Fürstenwalde/Spree – “The Islamic Centre Fürstenwalde is to be assigned to the Islamist-terrorist group Hamas as well as the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Stübgen. The association operates against the free democratic basic order, spreads anti-Semitic narratives and denies Israel’s right to exist. “We must not accept that.
According to the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz), Müller, there is a danger that Muslims of all age groups – including children and young people – are exposed to extremist attitudes and Islamist ideology through the association’s work. The activities of the association and the mosque also violate Germany’s foreign affairs and the idea of international understanding.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution wants to prevent the association from establishing an “outstanding structure” in the field of Islamism in Brandenburg. According to the agency, the Muslims come not only from Fürstenwalde (Oder-Spree district), but also partly from southern Brandenburg, Berlin and Potsdam. The association was founded in 2018 and offers leisure and educational activities for children, youths and other groups.