Eleven people were arrested for attacking the Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Germany of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) in Germany’s Leipzig province on Tuesday.
The mosque was damaged when a far-left group of around 100-150 radicals on Monday evening threw hard objects and fireworks at the mosque.
The Head of the Eyüp Sultan Mosque Association, Ömer Mumcu, stated that he condemned the attack and that the organization faces similar incidents every year.
He added that four windows had been broken in addition to the damage to the building, and called on the police to create an end to such attacks.
Germany has experienced a rise in racism and anti-Muslim hatred in recent years. Germany is home to 81 million people and hosts the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Of the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, at least 3 million are of Turkish descent.
The Turkish community in Europe is concerned with the rising trend of Islamophobia and Turkophobia in Western countries and has called on European states to escalate measures against hate crimes.
Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have frequently urged European decision-makers and politicians to take a stance against racism and other types of discrimination that have threatened the lives of millions of people living within the bloc’s borders.
