More than 1,000 demonstrators responded to a call for a rally by Islamists in Hamburg on Saturday, with some carrying posters that read "Caliphate is the solution" or "Germany - a dictatorship of values."
They were protesting in the St Georg district against an allegedly Islamophobic policy and media campaign in Germany. The peaceful rally was secured by a large contingent of police. Authorities put the number of participants at 1,100.
The organizers are linked to the group Muslim Interaktiv, which is classified as extremist according to Hamburg's Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the local branch of the domestic intelligence service.
The organizers repeatedly called on the demonstrators to shout "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great."
Speakers accused politicians and the media of "cheap lies" and "cowardly reporting," with the purported intention of branding all Muslims in Germany as Islamists against the backdrop of the Gaza war.
Muslim Interaktiv organized a demonstration in St Georg at the end of October despite a ban. In February, 2023, the group mobilized 3,500 people for a rally against the burning of a Koran in Sweden.