Berlin stops plans for Islamic day-care centre

Verein Morgenland e.V., an association with suspected ties to an Islamist political party called Hizb ut-Tahrir has submitted an application to open an Islamic day-care centre in the Berlin district of Mitte.

Published: 22 February 2008 17:20 CET

But Rainer-Maria Fritsch, a member of the socialist Left Party in the Mitte district council, told Berlin daily Berliner Morgenpost that the authorization for the day-care centre has been suspended and the application is under investigation by state authorities.

According to the paper, Hizb ut-Tahrir has been associated with the use of violence for political goals. The interior ministry banned the organization in 2003, and subsequent attempts to reverse the ban have failed.

“It would be intolerable if devotees of the radical Hizb ut-Tahrir are active in Berlin,” Frank Henkel, a spokesman for the conservative Social Democrats (CDU) in Berlin told the paper.

Berliner Morgenpost reports that the day-care center posted an ad for a on an educator on a Web portal that has been under watch by the German government since 2006 for “disseminating direct or indirect anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli propaganda.” The ad has since been removed.