Attackers Destroy Qurans, Break Windows At 2 Mosques In Germany
18 May 2019Islamophobia, Germany
Attackers threw rocks at a mosque in the central German city of Kassel on
Sunday while some 50 Qurans – the holy book of Islam – were damaged in another
attack on a mosque in northwest Bremen.
The Central Mosque in Kassel, which operates under the Turkish-Islamic Union
for Religious Affairs (DITIB), was attacked early Sunday by unidentified
suspects.
Kassel Central Mosque Foundation Chairman Seyfettin Eryörük said that the
mosque was targeted with rocks at a time when no one was in the building,
adding that the windows were broken in the attack.
Turkey's Consul General in Frankfurt Burak Karartı condemned the attack in a
statement he shared on social media, urging security forces to find the
perpetrators.
The Kassel Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the attack.
The same mosque was attacked by PKK sympathizers in previous years and the
perpetrators of the incident were not apprehended.
Meanwhile, 50 Qurans in Rahman Mosque in Germany's Bremen were damaged by
attackers who threw some of the holy books into the toilet, reports said.
Muslims living in the city expressed their sorrow over the anti-Muslim attack
on social media, urging authorities forces to take action. The attack came
less than two weeks after a man shouting anti-Muslim slurs on a Bremen tram
stabbed a 16-year-old teen in the neck with a knife.
Bremen State Deputy of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) Oğuzhan
Yazıcı told Anadolu Agency that he strongly condemns the ugly attack targeting
Rahman Mosque, which operates under the Bremen Islamic Council.
"After the news of the stabbing of a Muslim teenager last week, we now receive
news that the Holy Quran has been destroyed. Muslims from Bremen is very
nervous and anxious. Like synagogues, mosques should be well protected by the
state," Yazıcı said, adding that the government should take these events more
seriously and develop persistent measures against hostility toward Muslims.
German police said Wednesday that the attacker who stabbed the Muslim teenager
in Bremen on May 31 had been arrested. The teen suffered non-life-threatening
injuries to his neck and is receiving treatment at a hospital.
Anti-Muslim attacks have been on the rise in Germany in recent years, fueled
by propaganda from far-right parties, which have exploited fears over the
refugee crisis and terrorism.
Police recorded 813 hate crimes against Muslims last year. At least 54 Muslims
were injured in the attacks, which were carried out mostly by far-right
extremists. Along with attacks based on far-right motives, mosques have been
frequently hit by supporters of the PKK terrorist organization in recent
years.
Last week, threatening letters including Nazi and nuclear weapons symbols were
left in mailboxes of Turkish citizens in Cologne. Written in the letters,
which were found in some citizens' mailboxes located in the city's Keup
Street, were hate messages, including, "You are just like Jews. Soon, attacks
will start to target you."
Germany, a country of over 81 million people, has the second-largest Muslim
population in Western Europe after France. Among the country's nearly 4.7
million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin. Many Turkish origin Germans
are second- and third-generation German-born citizens of Turkish descent whose
grandparents moved to the country during the 1960s.
Ankara has been calling on Western governments to embrace a stronger stance
against rising anti-Islam attacks worldwide.
"It is obvious that these attacks will increase as long as Western politicians
and media do not have strong reactions," Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül said
Sunday during his visit to New Haven Diyanet Mosque in Connecticut, which was
attacked on May 12, the seventh day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month during
which Muslims fast and pray.
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EsinIslam.Com
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