ISLAMIC communities across Spain have reported threatening graffiti and even Swastikas being painted on their local cultural centres in response to the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the two fatal hijacking incidents in Paris.
And the Movement Against Intolerance says Muslims have told them about being threatened with violence and suffering racist insults.
A far-right extremist group staged a demonstration in Madrid last night (Monday) calling for Muslims to be kicked out of Spain.
Mosques and Islamic community centres in the provinces of Burgos, Cádiz and Madrid have been plastered with race-hate comments, says the Movement Against Intolerance.
The Muslim association headquarters in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz province) bore slogans in red paint such as ‘murderers pray here’, ‘it’ll be us next’, and ‘go back to your own country’, as well as Swastikas on the doors.
On the Estrecho Mosque in Madrid, the second-largest in the capital, those who went to pray on Saturday morning were greeted with messages such as ‘Islam get out of Europe’, ‘Islam NO’, and swear-words, all adorned with a Catholic Christian cross.
A demonstration of far-right campaigners was staged outside the Mosque in San Juan de los Lagos (Burgos province), which the Imam unsuccessfully tried to break up by confronting the crowds, who then started painting racist remarks and Nazi symbols on the outside walls.
Chairwoman of the Society Against Islamophobia, Amparo Sánchez, says her group has been trying hard to block demonstrations outside Mosques throughout the country, including one due to take place last night at 20.30 outside the M-30 Islamic Cultural Centre in Madrid.
Another, linked to a German movement which attracted 18,000 protesters a week ago, was stopped by Madrid’s MP, Cristina Cifuentes, but the organisers say they will not be put off and are planning a gathering at an as yet undisclosed location.
Head of the Movement Against Intolerance, Esteban Íbarra, says extreme-right groups are capitalising on the attacks in Paris to strengthen their arguments.
He says numerous Muslims, male and female, have told him about being threatened and insulted in the street and how some are now frightened to leave their homes for fear of reprisals.
After the murders in Paris, Spanish president Mariano Rajoy said he did not believe there was a risk of backlash Islamophobia in Spain.
Gnom.es