Islam - Current Day > Another Muslim goes berserk in Germany; And Another Muslim Kills Two and Terrifies Train Travelers; Muslim Nutcase Attacks Churches in Spain - Killing 1; IDF Foils Attack; USA takes out ISIS Kingpin

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"Allahu Akbar": Somali deliberately kills German men

January 23, 2023

JF-Online

"Allahu Akbar" and a massacre with two dead: A Somali deliberately stabs German men, as the prosecutor announces. He cuts off an arm and throws it onto his ex-girlfriend's balcony.

LUDWIGSHAFEN – The public prosecutor's office in Frankenthal in Rhineland-Palatinate has announced the background to a terrible bloody deed in the Ludwigshafen district of Oggersheim. On October 18, 2022, a Somali man brutally stabbed two men while shouting "Allahu Akbar" and seriously injured another.

The asylum seeker committed the murders because his girlfriend had left him: "He was convinced that she had a new life partner," said Frankenthal's chief public prosecutor Hubert Ströber of the Bild newspaper. During his bloodlust, the 26-year-old "was aware that both victims and his former partner were not acquainted".

The deeds were therefore done out of fundamental hatred of German men. The first victim was 20-year-old Jonas S, who happened to be walking past him. He stabbed the painter with a knife with a 20-centimetre-long blade, "using his suspicion and helplessness," as the prosecutor said.

Somali stabs head and severes arm

When the 20-year-old's colleague rushed to help, the Somali rammed the murder weapon into the neck of 35-year-old Sascha K. - "with the intent to kill," according to the public prosecutor. The man didn't stand a chance and died. He then attacked the 20-year-old again, allegedly stabbed his head with incredible brutality and then severed his right forearm. He then threw the body part on the balcony of his former partner.

The perpetrator then went into a drugstore and stabbed a 27-year-old customer who was standing at the checkout in the chest. Despite his serious injuries, the German dragged himself onto the street. Police officers who had been summoned there provided first aid and stopped the asylum seeker with four shots from their service weapons.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the Somali gave the details of the crime to a psychiatric expert. Accordingly, out of anger and jealousy, he "deliberately wanted to kill German men". The doctor has so far considered the man to be guilty. Prosecutors have filed charges of double murder and aggravated assault. It is not yet clear when the trial will begin.

Madness is inherent in devout Muslims. Their tipping point can be triggered in a moment. His use of the phrase Allahu Akbar makes it difficult for German authorities to ignore the terrorist aspect of this maniac.

Oggersheim, GDR

German officials say knifeman who stabbed two people to death and

wounded seven others in brutal train rampage is a stateless Palestinian

By RACHAEL BUNYAN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:33 EST, 25 January 2023 | UPDATED: 15:09 EST, 25 January 2023

At least two people have been killed and seven more injured in a stabbing rampage on a train in Germany today.

The attacker sparked chaos as he lunged at horrified passengers on board the train from Kiel to Hamburg shortly before 3pm, sending commuters screaming down the carriages as they tried to escape his onslaught.

The bloodbath came to an end when the suspect, a 33-year-old stateless Palestinian man according to officials, was tackled by cops and arrested on a station platform in the town of Brokstedt. 

A police spokesman said the investigation into a motive was focused on 'all directions' including possible extremism or psychological problems on the part of the assailant. 

Muslim extremism and psychological problems go hand in hand. You cannot be an extreme Muslim and not have psychological problems. 

Three of the seven injured passengers are in a serious condition following the attack condemned as a 'horrible act against all humanity' by regional interior minister Sabine Suetterlin-Waack.

Two people have been killed and several others injured after a man launched a knife attack on a train

in Germany today. Pictured: The scene

A passenger said people in his train carriage panicked when three hysterical girls ran into their carriage and screamed that the attacker had stabbed people further down the train. 

The attacker is believed to have fled the train once it stopped at the station and continued to stab people on the platform before being tackled by police officers, reports Bild. 

The 33-year-old knifeman has not been identified but he is believed to be a Palestinian refugee from Gaza. 

He is also in hospital receiving treatment under police guard after he reportedly stabbed himself amid his attack on fellow passengers. The suspect reportedly had a temporary residence permit with him during the attack.

Regional interior minister Sabine Suetterlin-Waack condemned the attack as a 'horrible act against all humanity'. 

'It is terrible,' Suetterlin-Waack told German public broadcaster NDR. 'We are shocked and horrified that something like this has happened. 

'For me it is clear that the horrible act is against all humanity,' the interior minister said, adding her 'thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims'. 

Suetterlin-Waack is on her way to the scene of the attack 'working closely together' to determine a motive.

There is large-scale emergency operation at the scene, with nine ambulances, three emergency and rescue helicopter all at the station to treat the passengers. 

Police have closed the station and forensic teams were seen working at the scene.

Police were investigating at the train station in Brokstedt, the German railway Deutsche Bahn said on Twitter, adding that some services between Hamburg and Kiel had been cancelled. 

Germany has been hit in recent years by several deadly knife attacks, some carried out by extremists and others by people suffering from serious psychological problems.

Again, it's the same thing!

A Syrian jihadist was given a life sentence in May 2021 for stabbing a German man to death and severely wounding his partner in a homophobic attack in the eastern city of Dresden.

A German court in December sentenced a Syrian-born man to 14 years in prison for an Islamist knife attack on a train in which he injured four passengers.

Last year a German court committed a Somali man to a psychiatric hospital after he stabbed three people to death in the southern city of Wuerzburg in 2021.

And if he ever gets out, he will do it again!

A Moroccan kills a sacristan and wounds a priest in an attack

shouting "Allah!" against two churches in Algeciras

The attacker, already detained, would have injured three other people.

The facts are being investigated as a terrorist act by the National Court.

1/25/2023 - 21:15

A North African man armed with a machete has killed one person and injured four others in attacks on several churches in Algeciras. The attack took place around 7:30 p.m. this Wednesday and is being investigated by the National Court as a case of terrorism. According to legal sources cited by Efe, the attacker would have shouted "Allah!".

According to Europa Sur, the deceased is Diego Valencia, sacristan of the church of La Palma. The images show his body covered by a thermal blanket in the Plaza Alta in Algeciras.

In addition, one of the injured is Antonio Rodríguez, parish priest of the San Isidro chapel of the Church of Santa María Auxiliadora, who has been stabbed and has undergone surgery at the hospital, although fortunately there is no fear for his life. Antonio Rodríguez, 74, was celebrating the seven o'clock Eucharist at that moment.

According to information provided by the Ministry of the Interior, the attack began after 7:00 p.m., when the terrorist entered the Church of San Isidro armed with a machete and attacked the priest, seriously wounding him. It would have been there that he would also have injured three other people.

Then he went to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Palma, about five minutes from the previous one. There he caused various damage by throwing images, crosses and candles to the ground and attacked the sacristan, who managed to leave the temple, but was hit outside by the assailant, who hit him on the head with a machete after wounding him in the abdomen, according to the eyewitnesses cited by Europa Sur .

Investigation sources have assured that the attacker is Yasin Kanzaa, of Moroccan nationality and about 40 years old. He has been arrested and is in police custody. The police have distributed a video with images of the attacker inside a police station.

The National Court has opened an investigation for an alleged terrorist attack. The investigation has fallen to the Central Court of Instruction Number 6 , which is the one that was on duty.

Consternation in the political class

Politicians and institutions have shown their regret for the events on Wednesday night through messages on Twitter. The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has shown his dismay at the attacks committed this afternoon in Algeciras. My condolences to the family of the deceased sacristan and my wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured".

Santiago Abascal, for his part, has not limited himself to giving his "deepest condolences to relatives and relatives of the victim", but has added that "we cannot tolerate Islamism advancing on our soil". Along the same lines, the general secretary of Vox, Ignacio Garriga , has pronounced that jihadism "today claims the life of a sacristan, a few years ago it claimed women and children in Barcelona and Tarragona. We must fight them ".

For his part, the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has described the crime as "terrible and heartbreaking" and has also wanted to ensure that "intolerance will never have a place in our society."

Also on Twitter , Pedro Sánchez wanted to "transfer my most sincere condolences to the relatives of the sacristan who died in the terrible attack in Algeciras." In addition, he has wished a "speedy recovery" to the injured and has transferred "all our support to the work being carried out by the State Security Forces and Bodies."

The lack of reaction from the members of Podemos in the Government is striking: neither Ione Belarra nor Irene Montero —nor Yolanda Díaz or Alberto Garzón— have made any assessments of the serious attack.

On his own behalf and on behalf of the entire municipal corporation, the mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, has conveyed his sorrow for the death of the sacristan Diego Valencia, has decreed a day of official mourning and has called a rally for this Thursday at 12:00 p.m. noon.

The general secretary of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Francisco César García Magán, has also expressed himself in this sense, who has written that he received the news "with pain". "In these sad moments of suffering, we join the pain of the family of the victims and the diocese of Cadiz and ask the God of life and peace for the speedy recovery of the injured," he commented.

Finally, in statements to Europa Press, the secretary of the Islamic Commission of Spain, Mohamed Ajana, expressed his "deepest condolences" to the victims of the terrorist attack: "The CIE expresses its deepest condolences and support for the victims of the attack on the two churches in Algeciras" he said, also pointing out that "the believer should feel, in a place of worship, that he is in an oasis of peace that should not be disturbed under any circumstances". In addition, he has shown his confidence that "the attacker will be brought to justice" and has wished that the attack "does not disturb social peace in the municipality of Algeciras."

Yeah! Good luck with that!

IDF foils major terror attack, 9 terrorists killed in Jenin gun battle

January 26, 2023

IDF foils major terror attack, 9 terrorists killed in Jenin gun battleIsraeli forces during a counterterrorism operation in Jenin. (IDF)

At least nine terrorists eliminated, over a dozen more wounded after massive gun battle breaks out in Jenin as Israeli forces foil large-scale planned terror attack. Abbas announces three-day mourning period.

By World Israel News Staff

A massive gun battle broke out in the Palestinian Authority-administered city of Jenin Thursday morning, after Israeli security forces entered the city as part of a counter-terror operation aimed at preventing a massive attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

The incursion into Jenin was carried out jointly by the IDF, Border Police, and Yamam police special forces unit in a rare daytime operation which Israel’s military said Thursday morning was aimed at apprehending a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist said to be orchestrating a “large terror attack.”

The Shin Bet internal security agency coordinated the operation, based on intelligence information it had received regarding the planned PIJ attack.

Palestinian Authority news outlets have reported that undercover Israeli forces entered Jenin inside a milk truck.

During the arrest operation, riots broke out, and armed terrorists opened fire on the Israeli forces.

Israeli security personnel returned fire, killing nine terrorists and wounding 20 more.

Thus far, the Ibn Sina Specialist Hospital and the Jenin Governmental Hospital have admitted 16 terrorists suffering gunshot wounds, with additional wounded terrorists reportedly still at the scene of the gun battle.

An IDF drone aircraft was downed during the Jenin gun battle.

The Palestinian Authority media outlet WAFA identified two of the slain terrorists as 24-year-old Saeb Essam Mahmoud Azirqi and 26-year-old Izz al-Din Yassin Salahat.

A Jenin hospital reported a fifth fatality during the gun battle, claiming that a civilian, 60-year-old Magda Obaid, was shot and killed during the operation.

“During an attempt to arrest them, the wanted men opened fire and were killed in an exchange of fire,” the IDF stated.

“Three members of the PIJ cell were killed and a fourth was arrested. The wanted men, PIJ operatives, have been involved in recent extensive terror activity and are suspected of carrying out several shooting attacks against IDF units and planning other significant attacks.”

Local health officials said a number of rioters were treated after being exposed to tear gas.

Later in the day, Defense Minister Yoav Galant held a situation assessment together with the IDF chief-of-ztaff, director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and other officials in Israel’s defense establishment.

“The State of Israel will continue to operate in any place and at any time against anyone who aims to harm the citizens of Israel. Our security forces are prepared for any development in the various arenas,” Galant stated.

US takes out ISIS terrorists in Somalia strike, including

‘key facilitator’ Bilal al-Sudani

By Caitlin Doornbos

January 26, 2023 5:40pm  Updated

The Pentagon announced a military strike has eliminated a "a number of ISIS members" in Somalia.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The US military eliminated “a number of ISIS members” — including one of the terrorist group’s top operatives — in a Wednesday strike in northern Somalia, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

ISIS leader Bilal al-Sudani, who was a “key facilitator for ISIS’s global network,” was among the multiple terrorists killed in the “assault operation” ordered by President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

“[A]l-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan,” he said. “This action leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure.”

Austin did not say how many other ISIS members were killed during the operation, but troops reportedly were met with a “hostile force” while attempting to capture al-Sudani. No civilians were harmed in the incident, according to CNN. Otherwise, the ISIS leader could have been taken alive.

No civilians or American troops were killed during the operation, according to the Pentagon.

Austin credited “our extraordinary service members as well as our intelligence community and other interagency partners” with bringing about the “successful counterterrorism operation.”

While the US military frequently focuses on Somalia’s al-Shabaab fighters, it has rarely targeted ISIS members in the country. Most of the US strikes on ISIS last year occurred in Syria.

Islam - Current Day > Muslims resist police at Hamburg mosque; The Terror Muslim attack on Spanish churches; Sweden's cultural suicide - full speed ahead

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Germany: Police try to arrest knifeman in mosque

as aggressive mob tries to prevent the arrest

MAY 1, 2023 4:00 PM 

BY ROBERT SPENCER

Jihad Watch

Given this attitude toward law enforcement, what will Germany be like in ten years? Twenty? Fifty?

How long before the city of Hamburg becomes a No-Go Zone?

Man recognizes his own suspected stabber – arrest

translated from “Mann erkennt eigenen mutmaßlichen Messerstecher – Festnahme,” 

T-Online, April 28, 2023

After a knife attack, a suspected perpetrator was arrested in a Hamburg mosque. The police met resistance from those present.

In Hamburg there was a police operation during Friday prayers in the El-Iman Mosque, during which one person was arrested. A spokesman for the Hamburg police confirmed this to T-online when asked. Accordingly, a man recognized his attacker, who is said to have stabbed him with a knife several months ago.

According to the information, the caller alerted the police, who appeared on site with a large contingent including dog handlers. “The officers stationed themselves in front of the entrances to the mosque and waited for the end of the prayer,” said the police spokesman.

Arrest leads to formation of aggressive mob

During the arrest of the alleged perpetrator, a large, sometimes aggressive mob formed in front of the door, the spokesman said. The alleged stabber was therefore in a group of about five people, so three other men were also checked. One of them was taken into custody after a verbal altercation.

The exact date and background of the stabbing are still unclear.

A horribly detailed report on the murder of one Christian and the attempted murder of another by a Muslim nutcase in Spain.

Islamic terrorist in Jan. 25 attacks in Spain said

Christian faith ‘must be eliminated’

ACI Prensa, April 28, 2023

On Jan. 25 a young Moroccan national identified as Yassine Kanjaa carried out jihadist attacks in Algeciras, Spain, killing a sacristan and seriously wounding a priest in two different incidents.

The General Commissariat of Information, an intelligence service under Spain’s National Police, compiled two reports on the attacks dated Jan. 29 and Jan. 30. Europa Press recently gained access to them and on April 26 published details reconstructing events.

The reports state that according to Father Antonio Rodríguez Lucena, who was wounded, the attacker was not provoked: “Nobody did anything that could bother him.”

In his testimony, the priest said that Kanjaa told a parishioner that “the Christian faith is negative and must be eliminated.”

According to the reports to which Europa Press has had access, the attack began at 6:30 p.m. local time when Kanjaa entered San Isidro Church in Algeciras and began to argue with the parishioners.

After the terrorist stated his desire to eliminate the Christian faith, he “vehemently” said that “the only religion to follow is the Islamic religion,” according to the testimony of the priest who survived the attack.

The woman who opened the church daily testified that the attacker took a Bible that was there and started hitting the seating with it. She confronted the man, managed to snatch the Bible away from him, and asked him to leave.

At 7 p.m. the individual returned to the area outside the church. The faithful who were attending Mass could hear him shouting in Arabic. After Mass, Rodríguez wanted to find out what was happening.

At that moment, “the suspect, carrying a large machete in his hand, suddenly attacked the priest causing serious injuries,” the report states.

In his statement to police, the priest said that “a man dressed in black entered, who was heading towards the altar without saying anything.”

The priest waited for him at the altar with the idea of having an open way to escape. When the man got to the altar he brandished his weapon, which the priest hadn’t realized he was carrying.

When the priest tried to flee, he stumbled and felt the weapon strike him. The parishioners attended to the wound and shut the church door so the attacker couldn’t get back inside.

The weapon, according to another witness, was “a large blue machete.” Others described it as a “knife” or “a kind of katana,” a curved Japanese sword.

After this attack, Kanjaa went to the Virgin of La Palma church located about 650 feet away. According to a witness, along the way he ran into a Moroccan passerby, whom without saying a word he punched in the face, breaking his glasses. He then struck him twice more and accused him of practicing the wrong religion.

When he got to the Virgin of La Palma church, the attacker saw the sacristan, Diego Valencia, leaving through a back door of the church.

According to the police, Kanjaa struck him with several initial blows with his weapon. The sacristan tried to flee but the attacker caught up with him in Plaza Alta, threw him to the ground, gripped the katana with both hands and “raising his gaze to the sky and shouting a few words in Arabic, among which was heard ‘Allah,’ dealt him one last fatal blow.”

Terror-linked Study Association receives millions in taxpayer money

translated from “Terrorkopplat studieförbund får miljonbidrag från skattebetalarna,” 

Samnytt, April 30, 2023:

The Muslim Study Association Ibn Rushd, which has been shown to have links to violent Islamism and Muslim terrorism, has been granted 1.1 million in contributions from the City of Gothenburg – from the pockets of taxpayers. The decision was made after the Social Democrats, the Left Party, the Environment Party and the Center Party have given their approval.

The Studief Association Ibn Rushd has been a hot political issue in recent years, and its applications for grants have been rejected three years in succession, thanks to the Swedish Democrats. The party has on at least seven different occasions worked to stop collaborations and contributions to the terror-linked organization, but has not succeeded this time.

Among other things, the union has been accused of connections to the terrorist-labeled Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. The organization has also been criticized for sanctioning honor oppression and radical interpretations of Islam.

“We feel safer with the message that there will no longer be any business with the Bellevue Mosque during this year,” says Jenny Broman (V), chairman of the Social Committee Center.

M, KD, L and SD wanted to reject the study association’s grant application but lost the battle. Nina Miskovsky (M), Deputy Chairman of the Social Committee Center, criticizes the officials and believes that they have made a misjudgment regarding Ibn Rushd’s democracy requirements.

According to her, the reasoning is based on prioritizing good relationships with Ibn Rushd and their collaboration partners rather than following the guidelines that exist for equality, rights for sexual minorities and not to support anti -democratic forces.

Do they really think Muslims want good relationships with Swedish infidel? They want your money, and that's all.

The Swedish Democrats are also critical of the decision and emphasize that Ibn Rushd is an undemocratic organization with links to the Muslim Brotherhood. This is something that, among other things, a report from the Swedish Agency for Social Protection and Emergency Preparedness, where it is pointed out that the management of Ibn Rushd is “fully governed by MB” with reference to a doctoral dissertation by Sameh Egyptson.

According to SD, Ibn Rushd cannot be considered to meet the requirements and conditions that are placed on study associations and it is argued that there is also a repression and discrimination linked to gender and sexual orientation within the organization.

Swedes have such faith that Muslims want to blend into Swedish society. Such fools have learned nothing in the past 8 years. As long as this idea rules, Sweden is barrelling head-first into cultural suicide and, eventually, civil war.

Controversial Germany-Spain Deal on Migrants Comes into Force

Germany takes advantage of left-leaning government in Madrid

African migrants react after crossing the border from Morocco to Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, Spain

August 7, 2017. / Reuters

As a Berlin-Madrid deal to send back migrants coming though Spain comes into force, critics call it a "symbolic" gesture aimed to calm the political storm in Germany but that will not solve the migrant crisis.

Germany reached a deal on Wednesday for Spain to take back previously registered migrants who show up at the German border. The move is seen as the first step towards implementing a deal which Merkel earlier reached within the ruling coalition to defuse the political dispute in Germany over migration.

Under the Wednesday agreement, migrants picked up at the German border who previously registered in Spain will be returned there within 48 hours, German Interior Ministry spokeswoman Eleonore Petermann said.

While Berlin portrays the deal as a breakthrough in the current gridlock over migrants, some Spanish port cities are concerned there are not enough resources to cope with the new arrivals. On Thursday, the mayor of the Andalusian city, Algeciras, one of the largest ports in Europe, criticized the recent arrival of an NGO rescue ship carrying 87 migrants.

José Ignacio Landaluce told local media that as mayor, he has "to ensure citizens' interests" and that he doesn't want a "social imbalance."

"The Spanish have big hearts, yes, but on this issue we have to use our heads, because there is not enough money," he said.  

Spain overtook Italy to become the largest European gateway for asylum seekers traveling across the Mediterranean, according to recent data from the International Organization for Migration. Over 24,000 have arrived on Spanish shores so far this year – three times more than in 2017.

The vulnerability of the Spanish borders was seen in a recent incident in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, a hub for African migrants trying to reach Europe. In late July, hundreds of asylum seekers attempted to cross into Spain from Morocco, and most of them succeeded. 

Symbolic agreement?

Rafael Ripoll, the president of the right-wing Spanish party Respeto, says that Spain is blindly following orders from Germany. "The only purpose of this symbolic agreement is to help Merkel save face before her own government, which is in trouble right now. And of course, Spain is going to obediently take whatever Merkel throws at us," he told RT.

Ripoll believes that Europe – particularly Spain – can't take in more migrants. "Every week, we see problems plaguing Spanish cities, all because there is no way to control the inflow of migrants, and because there is no way to give jobs to the newcomers."

Meanwhile, "thousands of skilled young Spanish people" are leaving the country every month because the state fails to provide them with opportunities, Ripoll said. "We've made the biggest mistake a nation can make: we have forsaken our own children to take in others."

Merkel's coalition nearly fell apart in June over a rift caused by the migrant crisis. German Interior Minister and Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Horst Seehofer threatened to resign if the influx of asylum seekers to Germany wasn't curbed. A compromise was eventually reached after it was agreed that Germany will prevent migrants registered elsewhere from entering the country and will return them to the point of their departure. However, the political damage had already been done – recent polls show a record decline in the ratings of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition.

Europe is currently experiencing the biggest refugee crisis since WWII. The number of asylum applications reached 650,000 in 2017. 

The State of Islamization in Europe and the Migrant Crisis

In some European countries Islamization is a growing problem due mainly to the spectacular influx of migrants from Muslim countries. Several countries are pushing back against Islamization; some can't bring themselves to do it. They will eventually, for Islam is not compatible with any other ideology and the horrors of living in a Muslim country that drove those people to emigrate, will manifest in Europe and, indeed, already are.

Muslim women & supporters protest as

Denmark burqa ban comes into effect 

The Kvinder I Dialog action group staged a mass protest in the streets of Copenhagen. © Kvinder I Dialog / Facebook

Hundreds have rallied in Copenhagen as a new ban on the wearing of face veils in public came into effect in Denmark. The Danish government is taking a more conservative position on immigration and integration.

The ‘burqa ban’ came into effect on Wednesday, after being enacted by the Danish parliament in May. The law was brought forward by Denmark’s ruling center-right coalition, and passed with a 75-30 vote.

Under the ban, the wearing of the niqab face veil and the burqa, a full-body cover, is outlawed. Those who break the law risk a 1,000 kroner (€135) fine, with repeat offenders liable for a 10,000 kroner (€1,340) fine or jail time.

Protesters began marching against the ban at 5pm local time on Wednesday, heading from  Copenhagen’s Norrebro district to Bellahoj police station on the outskirts of the capital. Children, Muslim women not wearing the niqab and non-Muslim Danes with their faces covered have joined the march.

The demonstration aimed “to send a signal to the government that we will not bow to discrimination and a law that specifically targets a religious minority,” 21-year-old protester named Sabina told Reuters. Sabina is one of about 200 Muslim women – 0.1 percent of the population – in Denmark who wear a veil or full body cover on a daily basis. Copenhagen is home to over 50,000 Muslims.

Activists have called the ban discriminatory. Marcus Knuth, member of parliament from the ruling Venstre party called the burqa “strongly oppressive.” Denmark now joins France, Belgium, and Austria in banning the wearing of the burqa in public.

Knuth’s party has presided over a shift to the right in Danish politics recently, in reaction to the European refugee crisis. Knuth has described refugees as a “burden” on Danish society, and called for their immediate deportation once their home countries are deemed safe to return to.

In March, immigration minister Inger Støjberg marked the passing of her 50th anti-immigration measure by celebrating with a cake decorated with fruit, the Danish flag, and the number ‘50.’

Among Støjberg’s 50 regulations is one requiring newly arrived asylum-seekers to hand over their valuables and jewelry to help pay for their stay in Denmark, and a separate law imposing identity checks along the border with Germany.

The government has also targeted settled immigrants, who it says often live in “parallel societies.” In July, as part of a series of measures aimed at eradicating immigrant ghettos, the government announced tougher criminal penalties, lower benefits, and mandatory integration classes for those living in ghettos.

The latest law has divided public, with some praising the 'burqa ban' on social media and others calling it a populist and discriminatory move.

Asylum applications in Denmark have dropped by 84 percent between 2015 and 2018. The country is home to some 500,000 non-western immigrants, mostly hailing from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Somalia. - All of which are Muslim countries!

‘Explosive situation’: Pro-migrant group forced

to end its crucial work in Paris due to violence

Solidarité Migrants Wilson / Facebook

Tensions between asylum seekers and police, aggressive drug addicts and government inaction – the volatile atmosphere in a Paris district is forcing a pro-migrant group to cut off their vital volunteer work for newcomers.

Solidarité Migrants Wilson has been distributing food for migrants near Porte de la Chapelle station in Paris' 18th district for 20 months. Yet since August 1 the group has decided to stop their work as they can’t cope with the growing level of violence in the area.

“From the beginning our mission was to serve hot drinks and bread and we have done this for 20 months, every day. During the last month though (July), we started questioning our mission, as we don’t want our volunteers to be put in danger,” Philippe Caro from Solidarité Migrants Wilson explained to RT.

According to Caro, the situation is becoming tense. Migrants cluster in terrible conditions and some of them don’t even have tents, and just sleep on the ground, he said. “Sometimes they are being woken up by police early in the morning, they kick them and use tear gas to move them,” Caro states.

The situation gets even more dangerous when drug addicts show up at food distribution events and cause problems. “It creates additional tension,” Caro says. “They’re aggressive, including towards the volunteers. So this is an explosive situation,” he admits.

The activist blames both the French government and the Paris administration for their inaction which lead to the growing level of violence in the district. “The state is responsible for people on the streets, for taking in migrants. Meanwhile, the authorities in Paris are restricting access to water taps in the summer. It’s irresponsible,” he laments.

Solidarité Migrants Wilson wrote a letter to the Paris administration, explaining that their volunteers won’t be able to work in the area due to tension between police and migrants, as well as the massive presence of drug addicts. The group called upon the city authorities to improve conditions in the district and solve the problems. The volunteers are planning to meet in September to discuss what the group will do next.

France, like other EU states, is currently experiencing the worst refugee crisis since WWII. The number of asylum seekers in the country reached 100,000 in 2017, according to asylumineurope.org.

In June this year France was among those states that said they have no intention of opening refugee facilities on their soil following a summit between EU leaders. At the gathering, a solution was reached which would involve EU members propping up so-called controlled centers on a volunteer basis.

French police clear 450 migrants from camp in Nantes

AFP, news.france@thelocal.com

Migrants and refugees are evacuated from their camp by French CRS riot police at Daviais square in Nantes, western France, on July 23, 2018. Photo: AFP

French police on Monday cleared some 450 Sudanese and Eritrean migrants from a park in the western city of Nantes where they had been camping for more than a month.

Regional authorities said 455 people were cleared in the operation, ordered over the "worrying" sanitary situation at the encampment, where rats had been spotted and where some migrants had caught scabies.

Nantes, a riverside city in Brittany home to 300,000 people, has seen asylum applications jump 28 percent in a year, bucking a trend among most other big French regional cities.

   

The migrants evicted from the city-centre camp were sent to a public hall where officials were examining their cases. Regional authorities said they would shelter "the most vulnerable people" and asylum seekers "as much as possible", but warned that their facilities were "saturated".

Officials had said last week that they had found only 100 spaces in emergency shelters throughout the region. "It means at least 300 people are going to sleep in the street tonight, without tents," said Francois Prochasson, a member of a local group which helps migrants.

   

"They're just going to go somewhere else, to another park, and nothing will have been fixed," he said.

Photo: AFP

Regional authorities said migrants who "cannot claim asylum or legal residency, or who have claimed asylum in another European Union member state, will be asked to leave the country".

President Emmanuel Macron's government is pushing through parliament a tough new immigration law which would speed up the asylum process and accelerate deportations.

   

France received a record 100,000 asylum applications last year, though the overall numbers entering Europe via dangerous Mediterranean crossings have fallen sharply from their peak in 2015.

Sharia law recognized by British court

for first time in landmark divorce case

Central London Mosque near Regent's Park. © Stephen Chung / Global Look Press

A British court recognized Sharia law for the first time after a judge made a landmark ruling on a divorce case, which could have far reaching effects on Islamic marriage in the UK.

In the case of the estranged couple Nasreen Akhtar and Mohammed Shabaz Khan, the High Court ruled that their Islamic faith marriage, nikah, is recognised by British matrimonial law despite their being no legal precedent for it to be recognised as such.

Akhtar will subsequently be able to bring her case before the divorce court, where she can claim a share of assets from her marriage to Khan. She would have been unable to do so without the High Court ruling.

Khan had initially sought to block his wife’s application for divorce at a UK court, arguing that the marriage - conducted in 1998 - was not legal.

Justice Williams said the marriage was void under section 11 of the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act because it was “entered into in disregard of certain requirements as to the formation of marriage. It is therefore a void marriage and the wife is entitled to a decree of nullity.”

The ruling could have significant implications for sharia law, especially those, like Akhtar and Khan, who marry under Islamic but not British law. If the precedent set by Akhtar’s case is followed it could allow for easier divorces and a splitting of husband’s assets, in similar situations.

A Home Office report, commissioned by now-Prime Minister Theresa May, found that women married under sharia law are often unaware that they have no legal protection under British law.

Migrant rescue vessel back at sea

after international dispute

Written by Reuters,

The migrant rescue ship Aquarius, at the centre of a dispute between Italy and Malta in June after both refused to accept more than 600 people it picked up, will begin a new mission in the southern Mediterranean, organisers said. 

The 77-metre vessel, operated by Franco-German charity SOS Mediterranee, will sail from Marseille on its tenth operation of the year, having rescued some 3,000 people this year, many fleeing from Libyan shores.

“The ship goes back to sea this afternoon,” Francis Vallat, president of SOS Mediterranee, told reporters. “If only one reason was needed, it is that during June, according to the latest figures, there were seven times as many deaths this year than in June last year because of the lack of NGO rescue ships. We’re going back.” 

In June, Aquarius picked up 629 migrants, including children and seven pregnant women, off the coast of Libya. It planned to take them to the nearest European port, the usual practice with rescue missions.

The then new Italian government, a coalition including the anti-immigrant League party, asked the ship to go to Malta rather than Italy. Malta said it was not the appropriate destination or capable of taking the migrants in. 

This led to a stand-off that drew in the European Union and France. Political tensions still persist between Rome and Paris. Eventually the migrants were taken in by Spain, now facing a renewed flood of people fleeing North Africa. 

The Aquarius is one of a number of NGO-supported ships carrying out rescue operations in the southern Mediterranean, alongside the Italian navy and EU-led missions. 

More than 10,000 migrants drowned in the region since 2014, according to the International Organisation for Migration. 

Italy, which has brought ashore more than 650,000 migrants since 2014, wants migrants returned to where they left. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini accused SOS Mediterranee and other charities of being a Mediterranean “taxi service” for migrants.

Frederic Penard, director of operations for SOS Mediterranee, said there was no question of Aquarius rescuing migrants and taking them back to Africa. “We always refuse to disembark people in Libya,” he said. “Libya cannot be considered safe. Everyone agrees with that for the moment.” 

Libya is mostly run by organized crime and Islamic radicals who would pick up anyone off the streets and hold them for ransom. Rape and beatings are very common. These are the consequences of deposing a strong-man - chaos and criminals.

Spain’s Sanchez welcomes migrants

– with an eye on elections

       

© Jorge Guerrero, AFP | The Red Cross helps a young girl arriving at Spain’s Algesiras port on July 21, 2018.

Text by Thomas ABGRALL

While most EU nations are tightening their migrant policies with an eye on their electorates, Spain’s new centre-left Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is welcoming migrants – for exactly the same reason.

Spain has now become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Europe, replacing the Libyan-Italy Mediterranean route that was once the main migrant gateway to the continent.

In less than a week, nearly 2,000 migrants entered the country and since the beginning of the year, 22,858 people arrived in Spain by sea while 307 died attempting the crossing, according to IOM (International Organization for Migration) figures published on July 31, 2018. More migrants have arrived in Spain over the past seven months than in all of 2017. The country has now surpassed Italy and Greece as being the first entry point via the Mediterranean.

But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s centre-left government has rejected the term ​​"mass immigration" that has fuelled the discourse in several European nations. "We’re trivialising the word ‘mass'," said Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell during a joint press conference earlier this week with his Jordanian counterpart, Ayman Safadi. 

Borrell instead chose to highlight the need for “new blood” in a continent with an ageing population. "Europe's demographic evolution shows that unless we want to gradually turn into an ageing continent, we need new blood, and it doesn't look like this new blood is coming from our capacity to procreate," he noted.

In addition to the sea route, migrants are also attempting to reach Spain by land by crossing into the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Last week, 602 migrants managed to scramble over the double barrier between Morocco and Cueta throwing caustic quicklime, excrement and stones onto the police below.

While admitting the incident – which made headlines in Spain – “shocked public opinion”, Borrell insisted that it was all relative. “Six hundred people is not massive compared to 1.3 million” Syrian refugees currently in Jordan, he said.

Perhaps, but Jordan is being greatly supported by other countries and is a Muslim country. Spain will get little help from the EU and is a Catholic country although it will become a post-Catholic country in this century.

A matter of domestic policy

Borrell’s comments were a confirmation of a different policy adopted by the Sanchez government. Since taking office in June, the new Spanish prime minister has been pursuing a migration policy that’s more respectful of human rights. In June, he accepted the Aquarius, a boat chartered by the aid groups SOS Méditerranée Sea and Doctors Without Borders, which had been sent back from the ports of Italy and Malta, with 629 migrants on board.

More respectful of human rights or politically expedient?

Madrid’s new policies are being hammered out with an eye on the upcoming local elections, followed by European parliamentary elections in May 2019, according to some experts.

"These left-leaning positions are directly linked to Spain's domestic politics,” explained Barbara Loyer, a Spain specialist at the University of Paris VIII. “The Socialist Party, at the head of a fragile coalition, is trying to seduce the voters of [the left-wing] Podemos and [centre-right] Ciudadanos – two new parties that have changed the equation. All of this is being done with a view to the forthcoming elections, and recent polls seem to show that this tactic is starting to pay off.”

Since 1998, the number of foreigners documented in Spain has increased tenfold, from 1.6 percent of the total population 20 years ago, to 12.2 percent in 2016, or 4.6 million people. But while populism is rising across Europe in countries like Hungary, Italy, Austria and Slovakia, Spain, for now, is not facing any such threat, according to Loyer. "The decision to host the Aquarius has been criticised by some Spanish media, but overall, the issue of immigration does not cause a national debate as elsewhere in Europe," she explains.

The far-right does not go far in Spain

In 2014, former members of the Spanish centre-right People's Party launched a new party, Vox, propagating the sort of hardline anti-immigrant, anti-EU positions familiar with far-right parties across Europe. But Vox has remained a marginal player in Spanish politics.

"The small far-right and anti-Islam parties have very little influence. There is no postcolonial issue in Spain with the Moroccans, as in France with the Algerians. There could be feverish outbreaks in some regions with a high proportions of immigrants, but we are not there yet,” noted Loyer.

By 2017, the number of Moroccans registered in Spain had reached more than 682,000 people, according to Loyer. But today rather than coming from Morocco, the majorty of migrants are mostly from Latin American countries – such as Venezuela and Colombia – and East European nations like Romania.

But, Loyer noted, if Morocco were to change its border policies, that could change the equation. "If Morocco decides to close its eyes, as it seems to have done recently in Ceuta, hundreds of people could arrive every day," she explained.

Morocco has been calling for EU aid that has not yet arrived and its government is strongly opposed to setting up "hotspots" – as envisaged by EU leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron – on its soil.

On the fence on a thorny issue

Human rights groups however are still cautious before evaluating the new government's migration policy. "While there have been a number of positive actions, our greatest concern is the government’s European policy. Pedro Sánchez wants to be the driving force behind a new European solidarity policy towards refugees. We should judge the results obtained," said Nuria Diaz, spokesperson of the Madrid-based NGO, CEAR (Comision Espanola de Ayuda al Refugiado). "The Spanish government will also be evaluated on its ability to receive migrants, and its cooperation with different organisations," she added.

Overwhelmed by the arrival of 2,000 migrants in less than a week, Spain has asked for €30 million in assistance from the EU’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and Internal Security Fund (ISF).

Another thorny issue is the law permitting Spanish border guards in Ceuta and Melilla to summarily return migrants to Morocco, a policy that has was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in October 2017.

The six-metre (20ft) high “anti-migrant” razor wire fences separating Ceuta and Melilla from Moroccan territory has been a contentious issue since “jumpers” attempting to scale the fences often wound themselves.

The controversial razor wire fences were first introduced in 2005, but removed two years later after a Senegalese national died attempting to scale the fence. In 2013, Spain’s conservative former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s revived the fences after waves of migrants scaled them.

Months after the ECHR condemnation, Rajoy’s government appealed the ruling and the new Spanish government has so far not taken up the issue.

In June though, Spain’s new interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, told a Spanish radio station he was “going to do everything possible to see that these razor wire fences at Ceuta and Melilla are removed".

But that’s unlikely to happen during the summer break. "It is unclear whether the Spanish Socialist Party will renounce the [ECHR] appeal [launched by Rajoy], or whether it will remove the barbed wire fences of Ceuta and Melilla as it has recently announced. Everything will be clearer in September," said Loyer.

50,000 Migrants waiting to storm Spain from Morocco

POLICE sources have warned some 50,000 illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are waiting in Morocco to cross into Spain.

It comes after around 21,000 migrants have so far made the extremely dangerous journey across the sea to seek asylum in Europe.

IN DEEP WATER: Migrants making the dangerous journey

Spain has become the number one point of migrant arrival in 2018, after the country’s socialist government gave the green light for open borders.

According to El Mundo, North Africa is becoming a ‘pressure cooker’, with at least 50,000 African migrants desperate to cross into the European country via the Strait of Gibraltar.

Human smugglers are apparently helping migrants bypass border controls in Morocco, with the promise that Spain is their ‘paradise’.

Police sources have even likened the concerning situation to the ‘Crisis of the Cayucos’, when thousands of migrants risked their lives in wooden boats called cayucos to reach Spain’s Canary Islands in 2006.

Migrants make their way to Morocco, cross through the Sahel area after paying the mafias, then elude the lax southern border controls in Morocco, revealed the El Mundo investigation.

Specialists believe this method is becoming more frequent and more violent, as the mafias’ desperate clientele reaches staggering numbers and continues to grow.

Just weeks ago, over 700 migrants stormed the fence separating Morocco from Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta, which has been the most violent incident to date say the Guardia Civil.

Migrants came equipped with means to get around the concertinas, as well as using quicklime against agents guarding the border, injuring 22 while four suffered significant burns.

The Spanish Association of Civil Guards (AEGC) confirmed in a statement that the immigrants ‘sprinkled quicklime, excrement and rust’ on the agents and 22 have been treated for ‘chemical burns, inflamed eyes, bruises and respiratory disorders’.

Croatian Police Accused Again of

Brutality to Migrants

Anja Vladisavljevic BIRN Zagreb

Improvised shelter in the suburb of Bihac, Borici settlement. Photo: Anja Vladisavljevic

No Name Kitchen, NNK, an NGO that helps migrants and refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Wednesday on social networks accused Croatian police of beating a migrant and documented the claim with a photograph of his injured back.

It said its volunteers were dining on Tuesday in the town of Velika Kladusa when the man arrived and asked them to check his injuries. “He was beaten with a plastic baton few times, and also kicked with boots on his face. We did not want to publish pictures of his face, as he might have problems afterwards,” NNK told BIRN.

He had apparently returned from trying to reach European Union when he said the Croatian police beat him and his friends. The Croatian police did not respond to BIRN's request for a comment about this claim.

A rising number of refugees and migrants heading through Bosnia want to enter the EU via Croatia and then seek asylum in Western Europe. One of the transit hot spots is the Bosnian border with Croatia, around the small towns of Bihac and Velika Kladusa, in northwest Bosnia. 

The numbers heading north from Greece via Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia have doubled since last year, with Bosnia now struggling to accommodate and feed around 5,000 people.

None of those people want to stay in Bosnia. Most attempt to cross the border into Croatia, but the obstacles are formidable, from forests and rivers, to uncleared landmines and an unwelcoming Croatian police.

NoNameKitchen

@NoNameKitchen1

 Tuesday night, while having dinner between the volunteers working in Velika Kladuša, a man comes and asks us if we could check him, he just came back from "the game" and the Croatian police beat him. This is how his back looked like ten minutes after coming back from the border.

Amnesty International, NNK, as well as a number of Croatian non-governmental organisations and media have documented numerous cases of the Croatian police using disproportionate force.

BIRN heard similar stories from the refugees and migrants it spoke to in Bihac on July 23. Refusing to be named, they spoke of physical violence, of possessions being confiscated or destroyed and money and cell phones seized.

On July 19, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that dozens of people were being treated daily for injuries sustained while trying to cross from Bosnia into Croatia.

Boris Pavelic, a journalist who often reports on this issue, told BIRN that such violence can be prevented only by serious public pressure on the government and police. Pavelic said journalists and activists should patrol the border together with the police, in all conditions, by day and night, and in the most difficult terrain.

“This would not end the violence completely but it would reduce it. But I'm afraid the violence cannot be completely stopped, certainly not with this anti-immigrant policy of the European Union,” he told BIRN.

On July 24, Croatian Defence Minister Davor Bozinovic dismissed allegations of police brutality, saying the authorities acted only in accordance with Croatian and EU law.

On July 29, the Croatian Police Union, SPS, dismissed media reports of inhumane treatment of migrants, and commended the police for their performance in guarding the border.

The Croatian journalists' association, HND, replied on July 30, saying the SPS had shown a lack of understanding of how journalism works – and accusing the SPS of interfering with the right of the media to do their job freely and of exerting pressure on the freedom of the media.

Idle migrants end up drug dealing - Genoa prosecutor

(ANSA) - Italy, - Genoa Prosecutor Francesco Cozzi said Thursday that he thinks asylum seekers that are not kept busy by their reception centres often end up dealing drugs.

Cozzi was commenting after an anti-drugs operation in the city that saw 13 alleged pushers arrested, including six asylum seekers. 

"We have noticed that asylum seekers who are linked to centres that do not engage them in activities have the propensity to deal," Cozzi said.

    "There are good centres and others without programmes.

    "Activity is the best deterrent against crime".

   

Should Europe promote African development

to stem migration?

How long have I been saying this?

By EFE

The new leader of Spain's right-wing Popular Party visited an immigration center in the south of the country Wednesday, where he called on Western countries to promote development programs in African nations to lessen the incentive for migrants making the perilous journey to Europe. 

Pablo Casado, the new face of the Spanish opposition, urged the government of Socialist Party leader Pedro Sánchez to face up to the challenge of migration and proposed that European governments come up with an aid initiative similar to the Marshall Plan the United States implemented to help some of Europe to get back on its feet after World War II. 

Yes! And America should be doing the same thing in Mexico and Central America!

"Western counties should not simply send aid, because they can end up in the hands of corrupt governments, but they should promote institutionalization, education, job creation and regulated immigration," Casado, who rose through the more conservative ranks of the PP, told reporters in Algeciras, near Cádiz.

In recent months, an increased number of migrant arrivals to Spain's southern shores, especially near the port city of Cádiz, via the Mediterranean Sea, has prompted the Spanish government to request extra support from the European Union amid a wider national debate on how the challenge of migration should be addressed. 

Some 22,858 migrants arrived in Spain in the first six months of 2018, according to the International Organization for Migration.

"Saying that there are enough papers for everyone, or that the State has limitless resources or that the illegal immigration route to Spain is easier than other countries is not going to solve the situation," the PP leader, who met with several migrants in Algeciras, told the press. 

The 37-year-old, who took over from Mariano Rajoy on July 21, said he wanted to follow in his predecessor's footsteps by pursuing cooperative relations with countries of migrant origin like Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco. 

"That was much easier than taking a photo in Valencia when on the same day more immigrants than were on the Aquarius were arriving in Algeciras and Almeria," he said, criticizing Sánchez, who soon into his own tenure as prime minister ordered the port of Valencia to accept the Aquarius NGO rescue vessel, which had spent days at sea with around 630 people on board after both Italy and Malta refused it entry. 

Meanwhile, Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister, Josep Borrell, said the European Commission had unblocked some 55 million euros ($64 million) of funds to "alleviate the circumstances that are occurring in Morocco."

Borrell has made these statements when asked about the letter from EC President, Jean-Claude Juncker, to PM Sánchez, and a subsequent telephone call.