Germany applies anti-Nazi laws in crackdown on Salafi Islamic groups

German police yesterday targeted two Salafi Islamic groups in what officials say is an investigation into efforts to overthrow the government.

By Robert Marquand, Staff writer / December 15, 2010

Paris

German authorities hardened a crackdown on Islamic groups yesterday, raiding homes and schools that reportedly belong to adherents of fundamentalist Salafi Islam.

German officials said the preemptive raids, conducted under German anti-Nazi laws of association, were aimed at uncovering unconstitutional or separatist acts and not part of an international terror hunt.

The raids targeted the Islamic Cultural Center of Bremen, on the North Sea, along with a group calling itself Invitation to Paradise in two small northwest German cities. Invitation to Paradise's leader has called for sharia, or Islamic law, to prevail one day but has specifically opposed using violence to impose it.

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