‘Sharia Police’ Are Doing Nightly Patrols In Germany; Real German Police Are Not Amused

A group of Islamist men calling themselves Sharia Police have been conducting nightly “patrols” in the German city of Wuppertal, harassing bar and casino patrons and proselytizing Islam, and the German government is stepping in, Deutsche Welle is reporting.

The “Sharia Police” are a group of men affiliated with Salafist Islam, a brand of Islam that rejects democracy, and aims to replace secular law with Sharia law – strict law based on Islam, which limits the rights of women, and allows corporal punishment such as stoning, according to NBC News.

In a seven-minute YouTube video posted last week by the group, entitled “Sharia Police: Coming Soon To Your City,” you can see the men, wearing orange vests that resemble police vests, emblazoned with the words “Sharia Police,” handing out leaflets about Sharia law, encouraging youth to join their cause, and trying to discourage people from entering bars, casinos, and nightclubs. At certain points in the video, you can see the group physically trying to prevent people from entering certain places, and in some instances, members of the group appear to harass and follow people who try to ignore them.

The Sharia Police’s founder, 33-year-old German convert to Islam Steven Lau, claimed that the “Sharia Police” never existed and that the whole thing was a publicity stunt to raise attention, according to Deutsche Welle.

“We knew that this would raise attention.”

The actual German police, meanwhile, are not amused. According to the Gates Institute, Wuppertal police are inclined to take a hard line against the group. Wuppertal Police Chief Birgitta Radermacher issued a statement, saying the “Sharia Police” are a threat to the rule of law in Germany.

“The monopoly of power lies exclusively with the State. Behavior that intimidates, threatens or provokes will not be tolerated. These ‘Sharia Police’ are not legitimate. Call 110 [police] when you meet these people.”

Radical Islam has been spreading across Europe, according to this Inquisitr report, and with it, fears that Islamist groups will attempt to replace European countries’ secular laws with Sharia law. This has already become an issue in Britain; in March of this year, according to Daily Mail, British lawyers drafted guidelines for “Sharia-compliant” wills to be allowed under the country’s legal system. It should be noted, however, that these policies only apply to people who voluntarily draft Sharia wills, and do not impose Sharia-compliant wills on the British legal system as a whole.

Similarly, in the United States, several conservative legislators have attempted to pro-actively ban Sharia Law in their states, according to The Huffington Post. In a very small number of jurisdictions in the U.S., courts have allowed people who voluntarily consent to such arbitration to allow Sharia law to be considered; however, as is the case in Britain, this is not an imposition of Sharia law, but simply a set of policies allowing for Sharia law to be implemented upon those who consent to it, and only in certain instances.

Do you believe you will be seeing Sharia Police roaming the streets of U.S. cities anytime soon? Let us know below.

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