Overview
- The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat youth held their nationwide Neujahrsputz on January 1, collecting New Year’s Eve litter in hundreds of locations.
- Organisers framed this year’s effort as a response to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s “Stadtbild” comments, saying they want to counter narratives that portray Muslims as a problem group.
- In Berlin, about 100 volunteers gathered and filled roughly 150 sacks, with less waste than expected on Sonnenallee after police set up a temporary fireworks ban zone.
- Reported local turnouts included around 70 participants in Mannheim, roughly 60 in Mainz and about 30 in Frankenthal, according to organisers.
- The group cites past nationwide participation of around 10,000 youths across some 240 cities collecting about 3,300 bags, and says its youth network numbers approximately 20,000.