BERLIN
Germany has banned the use of symbols representing the Islamic State as part of wider measures to curb support for the extremist group.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Friday said participation in propaganda, financial and material support for IS was prohibited “with immediate effect.”
The ‘operational’ ban includes the wearing of badges or the use of IS symbols in social media or at demonstrations; holding meetings; and allows for the confiscation of property.
Recruiting fighters to join IS is already illegal in Germany. Around 400 Germans are believed to have travelled to fight for IS in Syria and Iraq, Maiziere said.
Underlining the threat to public safety in Germany, he told reporters: “About 100 Islamists have returned [to Germany] so far. Many of them are frustrated. Others have combat experience. They have learned to hate and kill.”
He added: “We need to prevent radicalized people carrying the war to our cities. In Germany there is no place for a terrorist organization such as IS, which opposes the free democratic order in our country.”
Other groups subject to an operational ban include the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which was banned in 1993 alongside its European leadership, the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan.
There is doubt about whether IS has any organizational structure in Germany. In cases such as these, an operational ban curbs any potential source of support within the country.
Christian Democratic Union Party lawmaker Wolfgang Bosbach told TV station ARD that IS was listed as a terror group by the European Union, even though it had not been under German law due to a lack of a court order.
“That IS is a terrorist organization is beyond doubt," he said.
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