The head of the Bavarian opposition party in the German parliament, or Bundestag, has called for tough consequences following a demonstration in Hamburg in which speakers called for an Islamist caliphate to replace German democracy.
“Anyone who wants to introduce sharia [strict Islamic law] in Germany and declare a caliphate is an enemy of our democracy,” Alexander Dobrindt, the head of the Bundestag’s faction for Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), told the Bild newspaper.
“The state must confront them with consistency and rigour,” he said.
More than 1,000 people attended the Hamburg rally on Saturday, in which speakers called for strict Islamic law to replace German democracy.
In future, anyone who publicly calls for the abolition of the free democratic basic order and wants a so-called theocracy, for example, should be liable to prosecution, Dobrindt said, adding that they should face a minimum prison sentence of six months.
He said the Citizenship Act should also be amended so that a person would lose their German citizenship if they publicly call for the abolition of the free democratic basic order.
In addition, such Islamists should lose their entitlement to benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, the Bavarian politician said. After the demonstration, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for the state to take “tough action” against such organizers.
Dobrindt demanded that Faeser implement measures as quickly as possible to stop Islamist propaganda in Germany. In Germany, the rule of law applies instead of the rule of God, he said.
According to information from the Hamburg office of the domestic intelligence service, formally known as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the rally’s organizer was close to the group Muslim Interaktiv.
The organization is categorized as a confirmed extremist movement.