Several reports on hate crimes against muslims around the world have caused a high rate of concern. Among the countries with the high hate crimes against Muslims is Germany. Reports confirmed that the hate crime against Muslims rose sharply in the second quarter of this year, reflecting a growing Islamophobia fueled by far-right and populist political parties according to new government figures. Legally against this crimes, very few anti-Muslim hate crimes were successfully prosecuted, most escaped the law.
In addition, reports confirmed that about 16 Muslims were injured in Islamophobic violence between April and June, up from two incidents in the first quarter, the Interior Ministry said. Also, the Government said that most of these crimes were attached to religious ideology while very few were legally accompanished. The police also recorded 192 hate crimes against Muslims in the second quarter which include insults, threats, violence and attacks against mosques. These attacks rendered many Muslims in Germany liveless.
In reaction to this, the German Muslim community organization Millî Görüş (IGMG) called the figures scary. IGMG General Secretary Bekir Altaş said in a statement:“frighteningly high and clear alarm signal to German leaders. Lawmakers are urgently called on to take appropriate measures, Islamophobia must be fought decisively.”
Research has confirmed that the country has witnessed growing Islamophobia and hatred towards migrants in recent years triggered by propaganda from far-right and populist parties which have exploited fears over the refugee crisis and terrorism. In addition to these crimes and threats, the Left Party warned recently that Muslims are now facing a more serious threat as far-right groups are not hesitating to use violence against them.
However, Left Party lawmaker, Martina Renner recently accused far-right populist movements and parties of encouraging hate crimes against muslims with their rhetoric which consequently made live fearful for Muslims in the country:
“The rise in anti-Muslim crimes is part of a general shift to the right which is being expressed as well as strengthened by the parties like the AfD.”
The anti muslim rhetoric was adopted during the european refugee crisis in 2015 when over 800,000 muslims arrived in Germany from Syria and Iraq. Since then, some parties have made use of anti muslim rhetoric for campaign.
As part of this, the AfD’s top candidate, Alexander Gauland, told reporters recently that “Islam as a cultural, religious entity has no place in Germany.” He insisted that all Muslims must be driven out of the country for development to prevail.
Many people had wondered how muslims would leave Germany. As a matter of fact, it is a country of about 81.8 million people with the second largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Reports revealed that nearly 4.7 million of the population are Muslims. Some Germans perceived Islam as a threat while 61 percent said Islam was not compatible with Western society. This is probably the cause of the hate crimes against the religions due to its modesty in all ramifications.
Muslim organisations in the country explained that the unlawful acts of some muslim youths is as a result of sociological issues and not that of the religion. The religion doesnt give room for misconduct, many of them said.
Muslims in Germany are crying out for help against the hate crimes on their religion. They called on the government to assist in ensuring safety for Muslims in the country. However, some government officials are presently working to curb the hate crime acts in the country.
