A German court has given the green light to "Shariah police" who "patrol" city streets in search of Islamic-law violators.

A judge ruled Thursday that Salafist men who were arrested in Wuppertal, Germany, in September 2014 did nothing wrong when they harangued passers-by attempting to enter clubs, casinos and bars. Members of the Islamic group wore vests with "Sharia police" printed across the back and carried "Sharia Controlled Zone" signs, BBC reported Thursday.

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"These people are perverting the name of our religion," Central Council of Muslims in Germany chairman Ayman A. Mazyek said Sept. 6, 2014, Deutsche Welle reported. "With this shrill and foolish action, they are really hurting Muslims."

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The court's ruling comes against a backdrop of heightened tension over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open the door to hundreds-of-thousands Muslim migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

"If Europe fails in this refugee crisis, it betrays its founding principles," Merkel told parliamentarians Sept. 9 of the 850,000 to one million migrants who will have streamed into Germany by year's end. "We just have to get stuck in and remove obstacles to enable a peaceful coexistence. ... If we do it well, it will have more advantages than disadvantages."

German officials pointed out some of the "disadvantages" Nov. 28 when they said Islamic radicals are flocking to refugees, WND reported.

“They start by saying, ‘We will help you live your faith,’” Torsten Voss, the head of the German domestic intelligence agency's Hamburg branch, told the Wall Street Journal. "The Islamist area comes later – that is, of course, their goal."

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Helmut Albert, the top domestic intelligence official in the state of Saarland, told the newspaper mosques are seeing up to 200 new attendees per week.

"We're watching to see whether, over time, the refugees start going there not only because the sermons are in Arabic but because they’ve joined the movement," Albert said.

Merkel was named Time magazine's 2015 "Person of the Year" on Wednesday for her handling of the refugee crisis.

"For asking more of her country than most politicians would dare, for standing firm against tyranny as well as expedience and for providing steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply, Angela Merkel is Time’s Person of the Year," Nancy Gibbs, Time's managing editor, wrote.