BERLIN—Ferid Heider, a young and popular imam in Berlin, began hearing stories of threats and intimidation after three radical gunmen killed 17 people in Paris in a series of attacks last month. They continued as a new attack in Copenhagen raised fears about Islam, again, and anti-terror police raided homes and mosques across Europe.
One young woman, who wears a headscarf, told him that after the Paris shootings, a stranger hissed at her on the street that she "should be killed." Other congregants tell him they feel they have to answer for crimes they didn’t commit.
"We feel this pressure every day," Heider said. "The public wants the Muslims to explain themselves or say sorry."
While Germany has not see the sort of retaliatory violence that left mosques in France charred, the latest terrorist attacks in Europe have surfaced undercurrents of hostility toward Muslims that make them feel like outsiders in their own homes. Read more...
More about Europe, Us World, Muslims, Paris Attacks, and Copenhagan Shooting
from MashableEmily Feldman
0 comments:
Post a Comment