The interior minister was forced into explanations once again, after posting a photo of herself in the company of the "Constitutional Learners" she had awarded. The students are seen showing gestures of Islamist and other radical groups with their hands.

Are radicals being trained on taxpayers’ money?

Barely a few weeks after her latest scandal, Germany’s federal interior minister – Nancy Faeser – has found herself in another awkward situation. The politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has recently awarded several students, whom she described as “examples of living democracy”.

The “Constitutional Learners” Project encourages young people to stand up for their rights and to become active and participate – at local schools, in clubs, or in a political party – in initiatives of their own choice. Schools and youth facilities are becoming the spaces for practicing democracy. According to the project’s website, participants “experience how democracy works in practice as a Constitutional Student. They learn what their rights are and how to exercise them. Together, they discuss what is important to them and learn to argue. In the group, they meet politicians and visit locations where democracy takes place. The goal is for Constitutional Students to make their own commitment.”

It appears that the students being awarded by the minister have a peculiar interpretation of democracy. In the group photos taken after the award ceremony, some of them made gestures that are hardly compatible with celebrating democracy.

Three students were making the hand signal “R4bia” (in which four fingers are spread and the thumb is folded in toward the palm), popular among Islamists, which they consider a sign of solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood. Another student poses with an outstretched index finger, which is also a widespread gesture among Salafists and the “Islamic State” terrorist organisation. Yet another student was showing the „wolf greeting” used by a radical Turkish extremist group. The Gray Wolves organisation is responsible for a number of murders. Still other students raise their closed fists in the air, which is an international communist salute.

IS-Zeigefinger: Erkennungszeichen des IS

Wolf-Zeichen: Graue Wölfe, türkische Ultranationalisten

Rabia: Symbol der islamistischen Muslimbrüder

(Von links nach rechts)

Skandal! So ein Foto muss VOR der Veröffentlichung geprüft werden. @NancyFaeser #Verfassungsschüler pic.twitter.com/frAipR1e4n

— Tuncay Özdamar (@TuncayOezdamar) June 16, 2022

Nevertheless, Nancy Faeser posted the photo both on the ministry’s website and on her personal Twitter account. She noted that the project, funded by the ministry with taxpayer money, was „very close to her heart”. „It’s important for young people to participate in social and political life,” she wrote in her message, but this comment has become rather embarrassing for the minister in light of the extremist gestures.

A day later, Ms Faeser removed the photo from the platforms after receiving too many mocking comments. Although the interior minister tried set things straight, her efforts have only made things worse.

Nancy Faeser, a supporter of Antifa

The federal interior minister, after presenting herself as a supporter of a left-wing extremist group, has already been embroiled in a few scandals. Ms Faeser sparked a controversy as the author of a guest article published in the magazine of the Federation of Anti-fascists (VVN-BdA). In it, she discussed her experience of right-wing threats. The case is particularly interesting because,

among other things, the interior minister – who’s in charge of protecting the Constitution – published the piece in a magazine run by a group that is considered a threat to the Constitution.

The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the Federation of Anti-fascists as the largest left-wing extremist-influenced organisation in the country. Antifa often stages violent demonstrations and provokes street clashes, with activists armed with gas sprays, knives and chains. Violence appears permissible in their eyes when they see a need for action against members of groups that promote an ideology that they deem unacceptable. Recent years saw a string of violent protests across the globe, with Antifa activists attacking police, peaceful demonstrators or journalists.