Vandals damaged or destroyed dozens of graves belonging to Muslims in the Austrian city of Graz, heightening tensions in the southern city where a local politician made disparaging comments about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Police in Graz, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Vienna, said about 60 gravestones belonging to Muslims were found overturned or broken in the central cemetery, but said it was unclear when the vandalism took place. Officials said they could not rule out the possibility that extreme-right groups active in the city may have been behind the attack.
Tensions have risen in Graz since a local female politician from the right-wing Freedom Party disparaged the Prophet Muhammad, calling him a “child molester” who wrote the Quran during “fits of epilepsy.”