More Than 800 Mosques In Germany Have Been Targeted By Attacks Since 2014: Left-wing Extremists To Neo-Nazis

JAKARTA - More than 800 mosques in Germany have been the target of threats and attacks since 2014, however, the crimes are not properly investigated in the vast majority of cases, according to Brandeilig, an initiative by rights group FAIR International.

The group established Germany's first reporting center for attacks on mosques and recorded nearly 840 incidents of attacks, vandalism and threats between 2014 and 2022.

A detailed analysis of crimes in 2018 revealed that the perpetrator remained unknown in the majority of cases, triggering further attacks on Muslim worship sites by neo-Nazis or left-wing extremists.

"In general, the handling of mosque attacks can be considered very low," the group said in a recent report, reported by Daily Sabah June 14.

Among the 120 recorded attacks on mosques in 2018, the perpetrators were identified in only nine cases.

"This level is cause for concern," Brandeilig experts stressed, pointing out that in at least 20 cases, including arson attacks, the suspect was intended to cause death or serious bodily harm.

"In general, police officers arrived on the scene very quickly and immediately started an investigation. However, almost no incidents have been resolved to date," said the experts.

Left-wing extremists and followers of the PKK terror group are behind several attacks targeting mosques. While most were carried out by far-right extremist or neo-Nazi groups, the report said.

Germany has seen an increase in anti-Muslim racism and hatred in recent years, fueled by propaganda by neo-Nazi groups and the far-right opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Germany, a country of more than 83 million people, has the second largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the nearly 5.3 million Muslims in the country, 3 million are from Turkey.

Islamophobic attacks have increased, with Germany reporting more than 900 attacks on Muslims and Islamic organizations across the country.

According to the Neuer Osnabrücker Zeitung, at least 901 Islamophobic attacks were recorded in Germany in 2020, up 2 percent over the previous year, where the Interior Ministry recorded 884 crimes that would be considered Islamophobic.

Despite the coronavirus curtailing public life, the number of criminal offenses has increased, including vandalizing spaces with Nazi symbols, writing threats and ripping off women's headscarves.

An investigation by the German Left Party last year showed that every day of 2019, a mosque, Muslim institution or religious representative in Germany was the target of an Islamophobic attack.

In addition, racist officers in the German police are deliberately targeting Turks and other minorities in what they call a "Turkish manhunt," according to a November 2020 study of racism and police violence in the country.

Research carried out by professor Tobias Singelnstein of the Ruhr-University Bochum reveals there are structural problems within the German police force, with reports of racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic insults confirmed by police officers and victim testimonies.