Racist threats sent to mosques in Germany

BERLIN

Three mosques in Germany have received packages and letters in recent days that contained racist threats against Muslims, officials said on Monday.

The Turkish-Muslim group DITIB, which runs the three mosques in northwestern Germany, condemned the racist incident and called on authorities to take action against Islamophobia.

“These heinous acts have deeply saddened us and our neighbors,” the chairs of the DITIB mosque associations in Bochum, Castrop-Rauxel and Recklinghausen said in a joint statement.

“We are worried. The continuation of similar attacks will cause serious concerns in the society. The perpetrator or perpetrators must be apprehended and brought to justice as soon as possible,” they said.

The packages sent to the mosques in the three cities contained racist messages, burned pages of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, pig’s meat and feces, according to the officials.

Germany is facing a rise in anti-Muslim racism and violence in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of far-right political parties and movements.

In the first half of 2023, police recorded 258 Islamophobic crimes, including attacks on mosques, cases of bodily harm, and threatening letters.

A country of more than 84 million, Germany has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. It is home to more than 5 million Muslims, according to official figures.