SHAFAQNA- Muslim women were attacked by a man with a knife at a “Support Diversity” event in the southern German city of Ulm.The event was meant to raise awareness on increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the country.
At the Support Diversity event, organized by the Turkish-Muslim association IGMG, a man shouted “I will kill you” in English and tried to attack women taking part in the event with a knife, according to the head of the event organizer.
The attack was blocked at the last second, and apparently no one was hurt, aa reported.
Bekir Altas, head of the IGMG, condemned the attack coming at a peaceful event organized to draw attention to racism and Islamophobia.
At a stand set up at the event, the man “first verbally attacked our girls there, and then attacked our staff with a knife,” he told Anadolu Agency.
Altas added that the attacker had been taken into custody and that police are investigating the incident.
Twenty-five events in Germany and the Netherlands were organized to raise awareness on the discrimination Muslim women face in their daily life. The head of communication of the IGMG Ilknur Küçük said in Cologne that Muslim women, especially those wearing headscarves, face frequent discrimination daily and even verbal or physical violence, dailysabah mentioned.
Esma Taner, head of communication for the Netherlands Islamic Federation (NIF) Women’s Organization said they hoped prejudice against Muslim women will disappear “We are also living in this society. Just as everyone is living and is accepted as they want, we also want to be accepted that way. Even asking a woman with a headscarf ‘isn’t it hot’ is not nice.”
Germany, a country of over 81 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.
In recent years, increasingly hostile attitudes toward immigrants and the Muslim community have been reported. The number of attacks on Muslims and Muslim institutions in Germany has been around 570 in 2018, lower than in 2017. However, the number of people who were injured in anti-Muslim attacks has increased, compared to 2017, according to German media.