Extreme Right targets mosques and minarets in Austria

Recent activities of far-Right groups targeting the building of mosques in the UK mirror events elsewhere in Europe. At the beginning of 2007, the European extreme Right formed a new bloc in the European parliament called Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) to protect ‚Christian values‘ and ‚Europe’s traditional heritage‘. In the build-up to European parliamentary elections in 2009, ITS-linked parties (as well as extreme-Right parties not represented) are calling for a ban on the construction of mosques and minarets on the grounds that Europe’s heritage must be protected from ‚Islamisation‘. Already the scene has turned ugly in Austria where Jörg Haider called for the Austrian Constitution to be amended to prohibit the construction of minarets.
There are two extreme-Right parties in Austria: the Freedom Party (FPÖ, led by Heinz Christian-Strache) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ, led by Jörg Haider). In June, both parties initiated a parliamentary debate about the threat mosques and minarets posed to the ‚ambience‘ of Austrian towns which needed to be protected against ‚the danger of creeping Islamisation‘. Since then, the Austrian Islamic Faith Community has experienced an increase in the number of threatening phone calls it receives. Its integration spokesman Omar Al Rawi believes this has coincided with broadsides from Austrian politicians and dignatories against Islam and its visible symbols.