Islamists function in exactly the same ways as traditional supremacist groups. It's interesting to see European laws meant to fight Nazis being applied to them.
The Salafists, who are all aged between 24 and 35, first made headlines in September 2014 after they patrolled the streets of Wuppertal, in Germany's western industrial Ruhr region, in an attempt to enforce a strict interpretation of Islam.
Wearing orange vests, emblazoned with the words "Shariah police," the defendants allegedly demanded people at nightclubs stop drinking alcohol and listening to music.
The bearded fundamentalists were also observed calling for an end to gambling as they carried notices, in English, declaring a "Sharia Controlled Zone."
Düsseldorf state court said on Tuesday that eight of the nine accused men can face trial on the grounds of "violating laws against wearing uniforms with political messages."
While that last part sounds strange to Americans, it was a measure meant to stop the rise of Nazism and the SA's uniformed rallies. (Clearly it did not work.) Similar laws exist in some parts of Europe. But now a law developed to fight classic brownshirts is being applied to modern day Islamic brownshirts. Or brownrobes.
The decision overturned a ruling by Wuppertal district court last December, in which the judge said the behavior of accused Islamist preacher Sven Lau did not amount to a "criminal violation of the ban on uniforms." The decision sparked controversy in Germany and led to an appeal by prosecutors. The latest ruling by the Court of Appeal cannot be overturned.
The previous court had decided that the law only applied to uniforms of "historically known militant groups" that are a "symbol of organized violence". This is basically a roundabout way of saying Nazis. The current court ruling effectively means that Islamofascists can be equated with Nazis in this regard as a militant group and that Sharia police are a symbol of organized violence.
It's hard to look at Saudi Arabia or Iran and argue with that.
The implications of this are interesting because Europe does not have freedom of speech and other forms of political freedom in the American sense. And there are plenty of laws on the books meant to fight fascism. Particularly in Germany. If those laws seriously start being applied to Islamic groups, the results could be quite interesting. Groups on the right have so much trouble operating in Europe precisely because of laws like that. While politicians promise to apply anti-extremism laws to Islamist groups, they rarely do. And when they do, it's usually a half-measure. While the locals get the book thrown at them. This decision may mark a shift in that regard. Particularly if it results in actual jail time for the Sharia police.