Sharia patrols have appeared on Moscow streets.
Sharia patrols, are groups of young Sunni Muslim, members of a movement that called itself Stop Haram.
An activist of the Stop Haram movement, Islam Ismailov, has launched a social project aimed at making Muslims living in Moscow give up smoking and drinking alcohol in public places.
The project participants posted their first video named “I am ready to die for Islam” on YouTube channel “Alif TV – about Islam and Muslims.”
The head of the Muslim Spiritual Board of Russia Albir Krganov, who is also the mufti of Moscow, has not supported the Stop Haram project. “It is a hazy initiative,” Krganov told Interfax in an interview.
“I think this initiative will lead to conflicts especially if it begins spreading to the regions,” the mufti said.
Such Sharia patrols, also referred to as Muslim patrols or modesty patrols, members of an organization that called itself the Sharia Project, patrolled streets in East London from 2013 to 2014. Early that year, videos of their activities, filmed by members of the patrol, were uploaded online: these showed hooded members of the patrol confronting passers-by and demanding that they conform to Sharia law. They targeted prostitutes, people drinking alcohol, couples who were holding hands, women whom they considered to be dressed immodestly, and harassed others whom they perceived as being gay. Five men were arrested in January 2013 as part of an investigation into the gang, and three were given jail sentences on December 6, 2013.
The Muslim East London Mosque community condemned the patrols as “utterly unacceptable.” In response to the 'Muslim Patrols', the far-right organization Britain First has established 'Christian Patrols.'
Besides, Muslim youth activists have tried to impose a so-called “Sharia zone” in one of Copenhagen’s suburbs, Russia’s RT agency reported in May 2016. Pub owners from the Norrebro suburb of Copenhagen have taken their case to a government minister, urging her to protect their businesses and the locals. Pub owners in the Norrebro suburb have reportedly for months tried to get the Copenhagen Police to take action against a group of youths from an immigrant background, who have been threatening, extorting, and vandalizing bars in broad daylight.
The concept of Sharia zones was reportedly introduced by a group called ‘Call to Islam’ in 2011. Using volunteers, pockets of activists embark on daily patrols of the neighborhood and approach those who drink, gamble, or engage in other activities seen by the group as running contrary to Islamic beliefs.
