The Vest Story

This came up today via ARD (public TV, Channel One) here in Germany.

Back toward the summer of 2014, German cops in Wuppertal (a German town to the far north,  350,000 in population)....came up some individuals on a street wearing vests with 'Sharia Police' in lettering.  Basically, the the seven vested guys were walking around and appealing to people they perceived as young Muslims to avoid drinking booze, gambling, or visiting the local brothels. Had they simply had the vests (yellow) on, with no writing....the cops would have just nodded and told them not to intimidate anyone.  The problem was....according to regional law....you can't wear anything that is uniform-like to the cops or firemen.  The lettering with the word 'Sharia Police' was felt to be illegal.  So they got arrested and charged.

Yesterday, the district court of Wuppertal held their session and decided to acquit all seven guys of the uniform charge.

The prosecutor?  The news folks say he was a bit frustrated.  He says he'll appeal to a higher court.

How this came to an acquittal?  Well...it appears that witnesses came up and noted that the men were not being aggressive and no one suggested fear or intimidation. There's also the suggestion by the court that law over the vests is too vague.  The other problem is a German law that now exists....mandating you have to carry a yellow vest in your car.....so every single car owner is mandated to own a yellow vest.

The higher court acting?  They might conduct a review, but this would take a minimum of a year.  In a couple of months.....it'll be four years since the event occurred.  Yeah, it takes that long for German law to act.

What'll happen now?  I suspect as spring comes....a number of folks will appear on the streets of Wuppertal with vests that say 'Sharia Police', and continue their episode.  It's possible that other groups will appear with 'Anti-Capitalist Police', 'Anti-Alcohol Police', and even 'Anti-Anti Police', and the locals will be shaking their heads over this yellow vest phonenum and too many people telling you what you should not do.

My general gut feeling is that most new migrants into Germany of a Islamic nature.....really don't have any desire to have vested Sharlia-Police characters standing in front of them and telling them what they can or can't do. Some of the Turks might even do a push-back routine....taking absolutely no intimidation from the vest crowd.