The Chief of Frankfurt’s police is warning lawmakers to take the threat of underage radical Salafist children seriously in order to prevent potential future acts of terror.
The threat of radical Islamic terrorism in Germany has greatly increased over the past year, in a large part due to the migrant crisis as well as the radicalisation of very young Muslim boys and men. The chief of Frankfurt’s police force is warning that the trend could continue as more young Muslim boys are educated in Salafist schools that put them on the path to terrorism reports Die Welt.
Wolfgang Trusheim, head of the Frankfurt state police is sounding the call on young children who may become radicalised and later commit violent acts against their fellow Germans. Mr. Trusheim has a term for children that have been raised and educated by Salafist preachers, calling them “Hate children.”
Speaking on German radio the police head said that the Salafist preachers and parents are teaching the children that all other religions and beliefs are wrong and that they should hate men and women of other faiths.
According to Trusheim many of the children are already exhibiting radicalised behaviour at a very young age. He claimed that in some schools children have even made it known that their career choice would be a “jihadist” and said that the main problem was Salafist couples having so many children and passing a hateful ideology on to their children.
The answer, for Trusheim, could be to remove the children from Salafist parents so that they do not grow up in households where they are taught to hate. Adults who go off to Syria or elsewhere to fight for the Islamic State or other jihadi groups should also have their children taken away he said adding that if the current laws won’t allow for such a policy, there must be reform.
President of the German Child Protection League, Heinz Hilgers claimed that his agency was taking real steps to address the problem. He said, “If there is concrete evidence that parents educate their children, promoting violence, youth welfare offices must act in the interests of the child.”
Many of the attacks in Germany this year have been carried out by underage Islamists like the stabbing of a police officer by a 15-year-old female ISIS sympathiser earlier this year. The authorities had found the young girl had even attempted to go to Syria to join the terror group, aided by her aunt.
The statement from Trusheim also coincides with the ever increasing number of underage Muslim migrants coming into Germany, some of which may be easy targets for radicalisation like the Syrian who attempted unsuccessfully to blow himself up at a music festival in July.