GLADBECK – In a new attack on mosques, suspected Neo-Nazis اhave vandalized a local mosque in the northwestern German city of Gladbeck overnight on October 1, writing racist slogans and drawing swastikas on its walls and windows.
The vandalized mosque is run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).
“Such crimes can be prevented if the perpetrators are caught,” Nadir Kahraman, head of the DITIB’s Gladbeck branch, said Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.
Speaking hours after a swastika and racist messages were graffitied on its walls, Kahraman condemned the attack and urged the police to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Other mosques have suffered many similar attacks, but no suspects were arrested. We believe that the arrest of perpetrators would help prevent similar crimes in the future,” he added.
The DITIB, a moderate Muslim organization founded by Turkish migrants in Germany, runs more than 900 mosques across the country.
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.
In recent years the country has seen growing Islamophobia and hatred of migrants triggered by propaganda from far-right and populist parties.
Germany’s Interior Ministry recently released figures showing that some 950 anti-Muslim offenses had been carried out in Germany in 2017. Many of those crimes were committed by far-right elements.