Category Archives: Germany

Football fans and neo-Nazis clash with police in Cologne

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cologne far-right protest

Football hooligans and members of the German far right clashed with riot police in the centre of Cologne on Sunday as a demonstration against Islamic extremism turned violent.

About 2,500 hardline football fans and members of neo-Nazi organisations gathered under the banner “Hooligans against Salafists”. The march had been registered by a regional far-right party, called “Pro NRW”.

A counter demonstrations under the motto “Shoulder to shoulder against racism and religious extremism”, organised by anti-fascist activists, had drew about 500 people.

Cologne newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger said drunken protesters hurled bottles, rocks, fireworks and bicycles at police, injuring at least 13. One police van was tipped over. Some of the protesters were reportedly shouting “Foreigners out” and “Free, social and national: National Socialism now”.

Police in riot gear used to batons, pepper spray and water canons to contain the situation and made six arrests. A police union spokesperson told Die Welt that they were dealing with a new phenomenon inside the German football hooligan scene which could become highly dangerous.

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Another German mosque set on fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bad Salzuflen mosque fireAmid unprecedented escalation of arson attacks targeting German mosques, a new mosque in Bad Salzuflen in the in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, has been set on fire, raising again concerns about a rise in Islamophobia and racism.

“We investigate with high pressure in all directions,” a police spokesman was quoted by Die Welt.

The attack occurred when unidentified arsonists sat the front door of the mosque on fire last Saturday, October 11. The fire burnt the mosque, at the entrance floor of a building, along with three other apartments in the same floor. The fire department has reportedly saved nine people, three of them were children, the sources said.

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German court: church facilities can ban headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BundesarbeitsgerichtA German federal court has ruled that church-run institutions are within their rights to refuse to allow Muslim employees to wear headscarves at work.

The Federal Labor Court ruled Wednesday on a case brought by a former nurse at a Protestant church-linked hospital.

In 2010, the woman offered to return to work after maternity and sickness leave totaling four years and said she wanted to wear her headscarf at work. The hospital said no, and the woman went to court to seek compensation.

The federal court ruled that wearing a headscarf as a religious symbol isn’t compatible with a contractual obligation to “neutral behavior” in a church-run facility. But it sent the woman’s case back to a lower court, citing doubts over whether the hospital was technically a church institution.

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Two mosques attacked in Germany’s Lower Saxony

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Haci Bayram MosqueTwo Turkish mosques in Germany’s Lower Saxony state has come under attack by unknown assailants.

The molotov cocktail attack on the Haci Bayram mosque in Oldenburg over the weekend was an attempt of arson, police said.

German authorities have begun an investigation into the attack on the mosque, which is bound to the Turkish Religious Affairs department and serves as an official Turkish diplomatic mission for Turkish citizens abroad.

No one was injured in the attack, which was said to be politically motivated, and only minimal damage was reported.

Another attack on a Turkish mosque, again bound to the Turkish Religious Affairs department, took place in the city of Mölln. This was the second attack on the mosque in two weeks.

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Kreuzberg: Police suspect arsonists were behind mosque fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Germany Mosque FirePolice had believed that the fire at the Mevlana mosque in Kreuzberg might have been caused by a technical fault or started accidentally, but both of those possibilities have now been ruled out.

“We never ruled out arson,” Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf told The Local. “There was no direct evidence of an arson attack, no traces of a break-in… but by a process of elimination it turned out that it was probably a deliberately started fire.”

Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel was already speaking of an “attack” in the days before the police announcement on a visit to the mosque, describing arson on a place of worship as “an attack on the centre of society”.

The fire began in building materials stored in an unfinished extension to the structure and caused smoke damage to the facade and the interior of the mosque. Renovation and extension work has been going on at the site since 2013. More than 60 firefighters were deployed to put out the blaze.

Members of the congregation have been praying in the street since the fire on August 11th.

Neuendorf said that times of conflict in the Middle East can lead to an increase in violent crime in Germany. “When a mosque is burned, that has to be taken very seriously,” he said. “There is no evidence of what the motive might be… but the target itself suggests that it might be political. When there are tensions in other countries, that can also lead to political crimes here… graffiti will increase, physical attacks will increase.”

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Mosque fires in Germany trigger concerns of Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mevlana Mosque arsonA Turkish delegation comprised of officials from Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Committee and head of Turks Abroad and Related Communities directorate of the Turkish Prime Ministry started a two-day visit to Germany yesterday to inquire about the extent of attacks and suspicion of arson.

Their first visit was to Berlin’s Mevlana Mosque. A fire broke out in a part of the mosque that was being redecorated on August 11. The cause of the blaze is not yet known but German officials said they found traces of a flammable liquid at the scene, pointing to arson. Located in Kreuzberg, a district of Berlin dubbed as “Little Istanbul” due to its large population of Turks – approximately 40,000 people – the mosque was partially open for prayers as reconstruction was underway on the 40-yearold structure.

One day before the attack in Berlin, the Süleymaniye Mosque in the German town of Bielefeld was set on fire by suspects who burned Qurans in the mosque. In February, the Central Mosque in Cologne, one of the largest mosques in Germany, was subject to attacks. Suspects crashed a car into the door of the mosque and attempted to set the mosque on fire.

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Islam ‘does not belong in German society’ – poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A majority of Germans have rejected former President Christian Wulff’s famous statement that “Islam is now also a part of Germany”, with 52 percent against the idea.

Just 44 percent of people surveyed by the Forsa opinion institute for Stern magazine agreed with the former head of state that Islam was part of Germany.

However, a second question asking how people thought Germany should deal with hostility to Muslims found that 53 percent of people believed that it should be treated as seriously as anti-Semitism.

Young people and supporters of the Green Party were most likely to look favourably on Islam, with 61 and 69 percent positive responses respectively.

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Germany’s biggest tabloid attacks Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolaus Fest comment piece

Germany’s biggest newspaper, Bild, was forced to climb down over the weekend after a highly critical and controversial comment piece which attacked Islam as a barrier to integration appeared in its Sunday sister paper.

“I don’t believe in God, but at the same time Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism don’t bother me. Only Islam bothers me more and more,” wrote Nicolaus Fest, vice editor-in-chief of the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in the editorial published on Sunday.

Fest then laid out why Islam’s “criminality,” “murderous contempt” and “honour killings” did not belong in Germany, in comments which prompted a raft of hostility online against the Axel Springer-owned tabloid. “I’m bothered by the considerably disproportionate criminality of youths from Muslim backgrounds,” wrote Fest. “I’m bothered by Islam’s murderous contempt for women and homosexuals. I’m bothered by forced marriages, ‘justices of the peace,’ ‘honour killings.'”

All this, wrote Fest, was making Islam “a barrier to integration” – something which should be weighed up when assessing claims for asylum and visa applications to Germany. “I don’t need any imported racism and I don’t need anything else Islam stands for,” he concluded.

The short piece, which by Monday morning had been shared over 9,700 times on social media, quickly drew harsh criticism of the paper by politicians calling it racist and calling for the paper to apologize to the estimated 4.3 million Muslims in Germany.

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German princess ranted about killing Muslims at St Andrews beer festival

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Theodora Sayn-Wittgenstein hiding from photographersA German princess hurled abuse about killing Muslims after drunkenly trying to strip off at a St Andrews beer festival, a court heard.

Her Serene Majesty Theodora Sayn-Wittgenstein – known to friends as Thedi – struggled with police at the Oktoberfest charity event on Kinkell Farm in March, thinking she was being kidnapped. The 27-year-old – who attempted to disguise herself from waiting journalists at Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday by wearing a wig – was fined a total of £1,000 after admitting four charges.

The court was told Sayn-Wittgenstein had graduated in 2011 from St Andrews University and had returned to the town for a reunion weekend. Security guard Damon Creevy saw the accused at 11.30pm climbing railings at the event, while shouting and removing some of her clothing. When he asked her to replace her clothing and climb down, she refused. She eventually calmed down and was taken to the nearby first aid room.

Fiscal depute Trina Sinclair said: “A security guard, assisted by a first aider, Farah Hussain, tried to replace some of the accused’s clothing. The accused became aggressive and stated ‘I was doing my nails this morning, I was wondering how many Muslims I could kill’.” Miss Hussain left the room in tears, while Sayn-Wittgenstein stood on a chair and began to shout about her human rights.

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Belfast preacher who denounced Islam as evil issues apology

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A born-again Christian preacher who denounced Islam as “satanic” and the “spawn of the devil” has issued a public apology over remarks that ended up de-stabilising Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.

Pastor James McConnell of Belfast said he never had any intention to “arouse fear or stir up or incite hatred” towards any Muslim in the region. The preacher’s statement was issued just hours before the Police Service of Northern Ireland questioned him about his comments and allegations that he had been inciting hatred.

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