German Muslim council warns of rise in anti-Islam attacks

  A German Muslim leader says that Muslims and mosques are increasingly becoming targets of violence in Germany. He puts part of the blame on the ‘anti-Islamization’ group PEGIDA.

 A German Muslim leader says that Muslims and mosques are increasingly becoming targets of violence in Germany. He puts part of the blame on the ‘anti-Islamization’ group PEGIDA.

According to the chairman of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims, violence and hostile incidents targeting Muslims and mosques are taking place in Germany on a daily basis.

He added that Muslim women are frequently the target of hostile insults.

He also puts part of the blame for the increase in violence on the right-wing group PEGIDA, which for months has been organizing weekly rallies in the eastern city of Dresden against what it calls the “Islamization” of Europe.

The group, whose name in German stands for “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West,” claims to oppose only Islamist violence and not Muslims who integrate into German society.