German court lets off 'Sharia police' patrol in Wuppertal

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

German court lets off 'Sharia police' patrol in Wuppertal

10 December 2015 Europe

A German court has ruled that Islamists who patrolled a city's streets as "Sharia police" did not break the law and will not be prosecuted.

Nine were arrested in September 2014 after patrolling streets in Wuppertal, western Germany. They wore bright orange jackets with the words "Sharia police". They told passers-by not to frequent discos, casinos or bars.

The court said they had not violated laws on uniforms and public gatherings.

Prosecutors have now lodged an appeal.

The group of Salafists - ultra-conservative Islamists - included Sven Lau, a preacher whose passport was seized this year after he visited Syria and a photo surfaced, showing him posing on a tank, with a Kalashnikov rifle slung around his neck.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35059488

[msongs]

1. the orange jacket brigade picking up where the brown shirts left off nt

[patsimp]

2. how can someone live in a free country and then do everything they can to bring in the practices

that made them leave their country of origin in the first place.

I don't see many refugees from Western or European countries. Refugees are coming from the very countries that these sharia loving people are from.

[Mariana]

14. The one person named in the article

Sven Lau, appears to be a German convert. He hasn't left his country of origin.

[patsimp]

20. it's not just about this one case.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. That sounds like a bad idea.

[edhopper]

4. Doesn't sound worse than

the Westboro Church idiots.

[Warpy]

6. They're also not in the US

and they're not part of the majority religion, all of which makes a huge difference with the Westboro assholes.

The majority population is not going to react well and there will be consequences far beyond a bunch of blue nosed naggers in orange vests.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Westboro never claimed to be the police. It never claimed any authority other than the right to be

total assholes. They did not wear uniforms nor patrol streets. They did not engage, they provoked hoping for engagement.
So better, worse, that's for straight religious folks to parse out like angels on the head of a pin but there are most certainly differences along with any similarities. One might compare, but one should also then contrast...

[edhopper]

10. not like these guys?

[IMG][/IMG]

[Yorktown]

15. It is worse

The Westboro idiots are 'merely' offensive.

The Sharia patrols are coercive (they physically chase people away)

[Warpy]

5. The court was wrong

These jokers are out waving red flags at bulls. At some point they're going to be told in a physical manner just what everybody else thinks of their attempts to bully the general population into following their narrowminded, puritanical Islam. Then they'll become martyrs for every teenaged hothead in town.

They need to be told to knock it the fuck off. If they can't adapt to a free country, they need to find an unfree one where they'll be more comfortable.

[edhopper]

7. You can't stop unpopular speech

yes,they might be reprisals,but the State should not stop someone from speaking just because we don't like what they say.
If they are only asking people not to go to certain places,and not hampering them,it should be allowed.

Are they any different from anti-abortion protesters?

[Warpy]

8. Nope, but you can get those vests off them

and take away their bullhorns and anything else they're using to try to make themselves look like anything but ordinary people who think they're better than their fellow citizens.

"Police," my flabby old ass.

[edhopper]

11. We'll see

the decision has been appealed.

When it comes to speech, I fall on the side to allow the most obnoxious.

I do think what they are doing is repulsive, but it's legal free speech.

[Warpy]

12. Germany has different laws from the US

What they need to do is strip all the official accoutrements off these people. Make them common scolds. Then they'll be exercising their right to speak freely and obnoxiously.

[edhopper]

13. Don't disagree with that

Unless you are a law enforcement officer, or named Stuart Copland, you should not wear something with the word Police.

[Yorktown]

16. Calls to end democracy are sedition

If some do not like democracy, democracies shouldn't empower them.

[edhopper]

18. Can we start with

the GOP then?

[Yorktown]

19. The GOP isn't calling to end Democracy in the US

Last edited Fri Dec 11, 2015, 11:11 AM - Edit history (1)

Anyway, saddled as it is with the likes of Trump and Cruz,
the GOP isn't anywhere near being a danger for quite some time.
My bet: HRC wins hands down over Trump.

But I suggest there are worse dangers out there than the GOP to democracy in the US or abroad. And I also submit democracies are being slow taking the measure of the danger. This auto-proclaimed Sharia police trying to deter behavior they disapprove of in their area for instance. That, imho, is potentially far more dangerous for democracy: militias coercing people.

(NB: this is not to say that GW hasn't committed incalculable harm to the US and to the world at large, but Blair was nominally Labor and embarked in the same folly, so it wasn't just a Progressive vs RW issue)

[Yorktown]

17. Will there be more or less of this with Syrian refugees?

Sharia police and the like are why I was reticent towards Syrian refugees.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. FYI: Va’ad Hatznius "Modesty Patrols", Brooklyn New York

One of the most striking ironies of the Nechemya Weberman trial, which ended with his conviction on 59 counts of sexual abuse, was the revelation that the unlicensed therapist was a member of the Va’ad Hatznius, or modesty patrol, the self-appointed arbiters of right and wrong in the Satmar community.

Until recently, the Va’ad Hatznius was little known outside the Hasidic community, but its actions have reverberated through the community for years. Although they ostensibly monitor the moral behavior of both sexes (men and women are both warned not to read English books, watch television or surf the internet), most of their energies are directed towards ensuring that women and girls dress and behave modestly.

Their reasoning is clear: When a female wears revealing clothing or chats with the opposite sex, it could entice the men, and lead to dire consequences. In other words, the goal of their injunctions is to inhibit the sexual impulses of the male population

Read more: http://forward.com/news/168172/inside-hasidic-modesty-patrols/#ixzz3u7yTlgpD
For those who don't know The Forward, founded in 1897, is one of the oldest Jewish newspapers in the US.