Hundreds of German police officers conducted coordinated raids early on Thursday in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg in the investigation of an organisation banned over allegations of Islamic extremism.
Some 850 police, including SWAT teams, were involved in the raids of apartments linked to members of the organisation known as Jama’atu Berlin, the state Interior Ministry said.
The organisation, whose name translates literally as the “Berlin Group,” was banned by Berlin’s state Interior Minister Andreas Geisel ahead of the raids on the grounds it was a “very radical” group that followed the Islamic State group’s ideology.
“The ban is another clear signal to all religious extremists,” Geisel said. “We will fight the roots of terror. We will tolerate no place where terror is preached and the so-called Islamic State is glorified.”
