The newspaper "Spiegel" reported that the German police launched a wide raid campaign in four states since dawn today in search of supporters of the "Hamas" movement, and organizers of demonstrations supporting Gaza and Palestine.

The newspaper quoted a well-informed source: "Since Thursday morning, the German police have been conducting extensive searches looking for supporters and backers of organizations banned in Germany, including the Palestinian "Hamas" movement, and the organizer of the "Samidoun" campaign supporting the Palestinians."

The newspaper also added: "The police are taking measures against supporters of the terrorist organization "Hamas" in four federal states.. Searches are also being conducted in the buildings of activists of the anti-Semitic network "Samidoun" in addition to searches in 15 buildings in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein."

The newspaper pointed out that the security agencies are focusing their operations on activists of the Palestinian community in Germany.

According to the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, about 450 people in the country form the "core" of the "Hamas" movement, while no arrests have been reported so far.

Also last Tuesday morning, due to anti-Semitic posts on the internet, the police raided seven cities in the federal state of Bavaria, stormed 20 residential buildings, confiscated equipment including mobile phones from the suspects. Investigations were opened against them on charges of "incitement to hatred, use of symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations, and supporting criminal acts."

German media reported, in earlier reports, quoting the Public Prosecutor's Office in the state of Bavaria, that the slogan supporting the Palestinians "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be liberated" is criminally punishable and falls under the article previously applied to Nazi slogans.