A mosque in the town of Minden in the very northeast of Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state was desecrated by some unidentified assailants late Tuesday. They also tore pages of a copy of the Quran, the Islamic holy book. The Barbaros Mosque in which the incident occurred is managed by the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).
DITIB representative Sebahattin Çiğdem told that a copy of Quran was found ripped up inside the mosque after which the police was called.
Daily Sabah quoted him as saying, “our mosque had also been attacked on January 22, 2018. PKK terrorist organization supporters sprayed political messages on the doors and windows of the mosque.’
Another mosque in the German city of Cologne, also run by the DITIB, was attacked on Tuesday by three unidentified people. Considerable damage was caused to the service building of the Chorweiler Mosque. Three perpetrators caused serious physical damage and broke the donation boxes. Security cameras recorded that the attackers damaged the administration room and service building, broke the donation boxes and ran away.
Amid a growing number of threats and attacks targeting mosques and community centers, Germany’s Turkish-Muslim community last Wednesday had called on authorities to take stronger action against far-right extremists. Despite an increase in anti-Muslim crimes in recent years, perpetrators often go unpunished, said DITIB Chairman Kazım Türkmen.
It must be recalled that a bomb threat that was sent to the DITIB last Tuesday forcing an evacuation of Germany’s largest mosque in Cologne, which is run by the group. A total of 857 mosques are run by DITIB in Germany, where almost a 1,000 imams work.