“In view of the circumstances it appears likely that this is a xenophobic act.”
That’s from a police spokesperson who spoke to dpa after a dead pig with Angela Merkel’s name “daubed on it” was discovered at a site where a mosque is being constructed in Leipzig.
“Mutti Merkel” was reportedly scribed on the animal’s corpse. “Mutti,” or “mom” is a term of endearment that’s been variously applied to the chancellor. When Merkel made the push to take in some 1 million refugees last year, she was dubbed a “kind hearted lion mother” by some Mid-East asylum seekers.
But “mother” Merkel’s reputation has suffered irreparable damage over the past six months thanks to her role in fueling the bloc’s worsening refugee crisis. Germany took in more than a million migrants in 2015 and reports of mass sexual assaults carried out by immigrants combined with ever-present concerns about terror have soured Europeans on the chancellor’s “yes we can” message.
Indeed, the narrative is increasingly “no we can’t, even if we wanted to.” In fact, the situation is so bad that EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned on Thursday that if Turkey and Greece can’t work together on a solution to secure the bloc’s external borders, the entire project will collapse in the next 10 days.
Norwegian PM Erna Solberg is preparing her country for that eventuality by passing a new bill that will allow Norway to essentially lock down the borders and turn all comers away by force if necessary.
As NBC reports, it wasn't exactly surprising that the pig turned up at the site. "In a 2013 incident after plans for the mosque became known, pigs' heads were found at the same site. Police say no perpetrator has ever been found."
“I see this as just a stupid act. I don't know what they mean to say with this, but our mosque construction project will continue,” Dr Rashid Nawaz of the Leipzig branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat (AMJ) organization told The Local.
Stupid act, yes. But we're not sure what Dr. Nawaz is confused about what the "perpetrator(s) "mean to say." They mean to send an anti-migrant, anti-Islam message. The piglet, Nawaz says, "was hurled into a patch of earth overnight."
"The planned mosque for 100 people would be the second newly built mosque to be constructed in eastern Germany," Deutsche Welle reports. "The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat (AMJ), a global Islamic community with 35,000 members in Germany, has built a new mosque in Berlin's Pankow neighborhood."
Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung wasn't particularly enamored with the display. "Insulting, reviling and smearing a whole religious community is narrow-minded and outrageous,” he said, adding that "leaving a dead pig with the words 'Mutti Merkel' on it isn't just tasteless, but demonstrates fundamental failings of democratic education and conviction."
It seemed to have escaped Jung that when you are mayor, "fundamental failings of democratic education" among the populace are ultimately your fault.
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Below, find the original article from Leipziger Volkszeitung (Google translated)
Leipzig . The site for the new mosque of the Ahmadiyya community in Leipzig-Gohlis has been ruined again on Wednesday. As police spokesman Uwe Voigt told LVZ.de, found a passerby about 13 pm dead piglets in a bush, on the red paint "Mutti Merkel" was written. The perpetrators were not seen, but it was assumed that the animal has been filed on the day on the site at the corner Georg Schumann / Bleichertstraße.
Meanwhile, the state protection had been turned on. Investigators from a politically motivated act from, among others, it also go to an insult to the Chancellor, so Voigt further.
Construction in early September with religious leader
The Ahmadiyya community itself responded on Thursday with serenity the fact. "We will not be intimidated. What the perpetrators are hoping, will not happen: This has no impact on the construction process of our mosque, "spokesman Rashid Nawaz told LVZ.de. For discussions, community'm always ready to violence and attacks were not to be tolerated.
The Ahmadiyya plans to begin in early September with the construction of their new mosque. Approximately 700,000 Euro investments are planned for the project. "There are some other things that are now regulated. Then we hope the final construction permit, "Nawaz said. For groundbreaking ceremony then will also the London-based spiritual leader of the religious community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, expected in the fair site, the spokesman said.
OBM Jung condemned fact - Man: "Another low point."
Perella (SPD) responded on Thursday dismayed at the attack, "offend an entire religious community, to denigrate and insult is petty and despicable.The vast majority of Muslims, like most members of other religions also, peaceful believers who find in their denomination support and guidance, "said the Social Democrat.
For the member of parliament Holger man the perpetrators expose more clearly than democracy enemies. "A dead pig with red lettering, Mutti Merkel 'store, is not only tasteless, but discloses basic lack of democratic education as conviction. Symbolically compare a man with pigs and threaten the Chancellor with death is another low point and evidence of the brutality of the political climate ", the SPD politician said.
The attack on Thursday was not the first attack on the planned Ahmadiyya Mosque in Leipzig. In November 2013 Unknown speared bloody pigs' heads on poles, placed them along a beaten track that leads through the site and set fire to a garbage can. This attack sparked already nationwide revulsion.
In addition, there were months incitement and protests in the district against the planned mosque, led by the far-right NPD. In April 2014, the former NPD politician Alexander Kurth also tried to hand over a petition against the mosque properties on the city council. Mayor Jung refused to accept.Proponents of the sacred building had previously collected more than 6,000 signatures.