News: Europe

Crime

Berlin: 174 arrested at unauthorized pro-Palestinian events Clashes broke [out] between police and protesters at an unauthorized demonstration in the Berlin district of Neukölln. At least 65 police officers were injured.

October 19, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) At least 174 people were arrested and 65 police officers were injured at unauthorized pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin on Wednesday night, according to a police spokesperson. Authorities had banned such protests, which have been called in response to the conflict […]

Legal

Hartlepool stabbings: Man in court charged with ‘terror-motivated’ murder and attempted murder Ahmed Alid, who was following the hearing with the help of an Arabic interpreter, did not respond when repeatedly asked to confirm his name. Instead, he said: 'I'm very ill, I cannot talk, I cannot speak.'

October 19, 2023   

(Sky News) A Moroccan national has appeared at the Old Bailey accused of stabbing a 70-year-old man to death in Hartlepool, in a knife attack alleged to have been motivated by terrorism. Ahmed Alid is charged with the attempted murder of his […]

Citizenship

French senator demands footballer Karim Benzema lose citizenship over Muslim Brotherhood claim Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the star was ‘linked’ with the Muslim party. Benzema’s lawyer said that’s not true.

October 18, 2023   

(Politico) A French senator on Wednesday called for Karim Benzema to be stripped of his French citizenship after Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin suggested the football star was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist party considered to be a terrorist group […]

Clerics & Preachers

Senior UK Muslim clerics condemn Hamas attacks on Israel in landmark statement 15 Muslim clerics also condemn ‘excessive force’ by Israel but don’t apportion blame for hospital strike

October 18, 2023   

(Jewish News) Some of Britain’s most senior Muslim leaders have said they “denounce Hamas’s killing and abduction of innocent people” on 7 October and have steered clear of apportioning blame for the Gaza hospital killings. In a significant intervention by leading Muslim […]

Government & Politics

Belgian officials knew all about Brussels terror attack gunman — but were unable to stop him Tunisian shooter’s profile sheds light on Belgium’s security failures.

October 18, 2023 and   

(Politico) Belgian authorities were well aware of the gunman who caused terror in Brussels — and yet he was still able to shoot two people dead. The attacker — who killed two Swedish football fans on Monday evening — had been on the authorities’ […]

Discrimination & “Islamophobia”

Spy chief says MI5 ‘absolutely alert’ to risk of UK terror attack amid Israel-Hamas war Ken McCallum also tells Sky News there is a 'sharpened concern' about multiple threats, from far-right antisemitism, Islamophobia, Islamist extremism, and rising state-level aggression — predominantly from China, Russia and Iran.

October 17, 2023   

(Sky News) The director general of MI5 has told Sky News his intelligence officers are “focused with particular intensity” on a growing risk of attacks within the UK following events in the Middle East. In a rare interview, Ken McCallum said: “Sadly, […]

Academics & Education

Killing of French teacher inflames tensions over security, immigration A string of violent attacks by foreigners over recent years has reignited the immigration debate in France.

October 16, 2023   

(Politico) Just three days after an Islamist stabbed a French teacher to death, an already fierce discussion on immigration in France has become a lot more heated. The killing last Friday of Dominique Bernard, a high school teacher in Arras, has emotionally […]

Health & Medicine

Man pleads guilty to terrorism offences ahead of trial for allegedly planning attack on St James’s hospital in Leeds Mohammad Farooq, 27, is accused of taking a pressure cooker bomb to St James's Hospital in Leeds after a failed attempt to launch a terrorist attack on RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, motivated by an interest in radical Islam.

October 16, 2023   

(Sky News) A clinical support worker has pleaded guilty to terrorism offences ahead of his trial for allegedly planning an attack on a maternity hospital in Leeds and an RAF station in North Yorkshire. Mohammad Farooq, 27, from Roundhay in Leeds, is […]

Demonstrations

Israel-Hamas war: Police seek two women who wore images of paragliders at London protest The images may be a reference to Hamas storming into Israel on motorised paragliders during a surprise attack last weekend that included the murder of 260 people at a music festival.

October 15, 2023   

(Sky News) Two women who wore images of paragliders on their backs during yesterday’s protest for Palestinians are now being sought by London police. The women, who wore red and black jackets, are being asked to come forward as part of an […]

Academics & Education

Several UK Jewish schools close ‘in interests of the safety of our precious children’ It comes as Jewish students were being warned by schools to disguise their uniform because of a fear of retaliatory attacks caused by the ongoing war in Israel.

October 12, 2023 , and   

(Sky News) Four Jewish schools in north London are closing their doors “in the interests of the safety of our precious children.” Torah Vodaas Primary School in Edgware, Ateres Beis Yaakov Primary School in Colindale, and Menorah High School in Neasden informed […]

Government & Politics

Germany will ban all Hamas-linked activities, Scholz says Germany vows zero tolerance for antisemitism, after terror celebrations by a minority spark outrage.

October 12, 2023   

(Politico) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that anyone who glorifies the crimes of Palestinian militant group Hamas, uses its symbols, condones murder, calls for criminal acts or burns Israeli flags could be prosecuted in Germany. Speaking in the Bundestag, the German parliament, […]

Government & Politics

Henry Kissinger on Hamas attacks fallout: Germany let in too many foreigners As a minority in Berlin cheer Hamas’ attacks on Israel, former top US diplomat says mass immigration was a ‘grave mistake.’

October 11, 2023   

(Politico) Hamas’ attack against Israel being celebrated on the streets of Berlin indicates that Germany has let too many foreigners into the country, according to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. “It was a grave mistake to let in so many […]

Law Enforcement

Man found guilty of complicity in 2016 terrorist murder of French couple The killing of a police captain and his partner was part of a string of deadly Islamist terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016 that scarred France.

October 11, 2023   

(NY Times) A French-Moroccan man was convicted on Wednesday on charges of complicity in the 2016 murders of an off-duty police officer and his partner at their home near Paris, part of a wave of deadly Islamist terrorist attacks that deeply shocked […]