German authorities have banned an Islamic Salafist movement that they say is responsible for inspiring 140 youths to join the Syria conflict.
Germany Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the ban on Tuesday after police carried out dawn raids on around 200 targets connected to The True Religion organization across 10 states.
“As a federal minister, I today banned the organization called The True Religion,” de Maiziere told reporters.
The True Religion is led by prominent Salafist preacher Ibrahim Abou-Nagie.
The raids targeted mosques, apartments, offices and storage halls. The main focuses of the raids were in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Hamburg, de Maiziere said.
In Berlin 200 officers took part in raids on 20 sites, Berlin police told CNN.
Salafism is an ultrafundmentalist branch of Islam that is particularly prevalent in Saudi Arabia. Salafism is intolerant of what its adherents consider “deviant” of mainstream Sunni Islam, including Islamic sects, such as Shia Islam, as well as other world religions.
Abou-Nagie triggered national debate in Germany in 2011 when he spearheaded a drive to give a copy of the Koran to every German, Swiss and Austrian household.