“Muslim Is There anybody Who Can Tear Us Apart?”
Munich police have canceled a Christmas market after fears of growing violence following demonstrations against other festivals in Germany over the summer.
After protests in Bavaria over the festival popular in the southern city of Nuremberg earlier this year, organizers decided to cancel next Saturday’s event and rethink the idea of celebrating Christmas during Ramadan and Eid al-Adha.
More than 40,000 Muslims, many of them of Arab descent, celebrated Ramadan in Munich in June, and more than 20,000 Muslims took part in celebrations surrounding the city’s annual Eid festival, in June and July.
However, Muslim groups expressed concern after the cultural revelry and customs drew international attention, specifically questioning whether a Muslim canteen would be allowed to sell food and drinks before midday.
The Islamic Solidarity Network in Munich had criticized the festival for not consulting the Muslim community.
“Mosques can only function after being officially notified that they will be allowed to sell food until noon,” the ISN wrote.
Following the Munich unrest over the festival in July, the German federal government said that authorities were “outraged by the radicalization and radicalization-inspired violence that threatens our communities.”
The string of attacks since December 2017 has sparked a national debate on the integration of migrants into German society. The violence in Bavaria has led Germany to announce that it is considering changing laws to ban the burqa.
“This is something we would want to be able to consider if we need to address this challenge,” Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.
The violent month of Ramadan began in the holy month of Ramadan. The holiday celebration in July continues to showcase Islam in Germany.
One of the most-anticipated events taking place at the current festival is an exhibition on the Ottoman Empire in Munich.
A year ago, the exhibition was organized without the help of a paid cultural curator, who was hired to take on the role after just four days, the Globe reported.
“It is very difficult to sell tickets for such a show if there are no people to see it,” Sayed Rabei of the Center for Global/Islamic Studies at University of Munich said in an interview.
The exhibition includes photos taken by American Palestinian photographer Matthew Sabo at the period from 1913-1925. Sabo was helping maintain the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul in the early 20th century.
Sabo’s photographs provide “brutal, at times brutal scenes,” Rabei said.
“We have to understand what kind of cruelty people of that era are capable of,” he said.