More than 300 police officers took part in raids targeting two banned Palestinian organizations in the German capital Berlin early on Thursday morning, reports DPA agency.
Across Germany, 15 properties were raided and searched, 11 of them in Berlin, a spokeswoman for the city’s administration said.
Police also raided properties in the states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein in connection with the ban on the terrorist organization Hamas and the international Palestinian prisoner advocacy network Samidoun in Germany. The German government banned both groups earlier this month.
The German Interior Ministry announced the raids on Thursday morning. The measures were ordered by the administrative courts to enforce the bans and to further clarify the structures of these banned groups, the ministry said. A total of 15 properties were searched.
“We are continuing our consistent action against radical Islamists,” said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
On November 2, the German government banned Samidoun, and imposed further measures to stamp out support for the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, which is already listed as a terrorist organization in the European Union.
“By banning Hamas and Samidoun in Germany, we have sent a clear signal that we will not tolerate any glorification or support of Hamas’ barbaric terror against Israel,” Faeser said at the time.
“Samidoun, as an international network, spreads anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda under the guise of being a ‘solidarity organization’ for prisoners in various countries,” Faeser said.
Under the ban, the groups’ assets can be confiscated, and any internet presence or social media activities by the groups has been outlawed, according to Faeser’s ministry. Anyone who continues to be active for the organizations is committing a criminal offence, the ministry said.
