Anger as racist signboards erected close to Austria mosques

Racist signboards have been erected in many locations close to mosques in the Austrian capital Vienna, members of the country’s Islamic community said. Following the appearance of the controversial “Islam map,” signboards with images depicting a man with beard and skullcap and reading “Attention: Political Islam is nearby. See Islam Map for further info” started […]

Racist signboards have been erected in many locations close to mosques in the Austrian capital Vienna, members of the country’s Islamic community said.

Following the appearance of the controversial “Islam map,” signboards with images depicting a man with beard and skullcap and reading “Attention: Political Islam is nearby. See Islam Map for further info” started to appear in recent days.

According to a statement by Islamic Religious Authority in Austria (IGGiO) on Wednesday, the signboards expose many mosques to attacks.

The “Islam map”, which shares detailed information of the country’s Muslims and their institutions, should be canceled before it causes more provocation and danger, the statement said.

Austrian Integration Ministry launched an Internet website called the “National Map of Islam” last week with the names and locations of more than 620 mosques, associations and officials.

Many Muslims feel stigmatised and their security threatened by the publication of addresses and other details amid growing Islamophobia in Austria.

Austrian Muslims are deeply concerned over ongoing attempts by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to instrumentalise Islam for his far-right agenda.

Islamic Religious Community in Austria, which represents the interests of roughly 800,000 Muslims in Austria, warned against stigmatising all Muslims living in that country “as a potential danger to society and the democratic legal order in the country.”

Meanwhile, the German Central Council of Muslims also sharply criticised the Austrian government for launching a controversial digital “Islam map”, calling it “irresponsible”.

“With battle cries like ‘Political Islam’ and such actions, anti-Muslim racists and religious extremists will be strengthened at the same time, while millions of Muslims are put under general suspicion,” Aiman Mazyek, head of the council, told the WAZ newspaper.

A leading Austrian political scientist, Prof. Heinz Gaertner, of Vienna University warned of what he called “vigilante justice” against Muslims in Austria.

“It is only a matter of time before there will be violent attacks on Islamic institutions,” he said.