German president praises Muslims for backing free speech
The German president has commended Muslim leaders in his country for showing tolerance and backing freedom of speech.
Joachim Gauck on Thursday praised Germany’s Islamic leaders for their resolve in defending humanity and law in order to prevent terrorists from weakening the cohesion and solidarity in the European societies.
"When people of varying extraction and religion get together and say, we want to defend humanity and the law, this strengthens precisely what the attackers were trying to weaken: the cohesion of the citizenry who want to live in an open society," Gauck told the German news agency, Deutsche Presse Agentur.
Gauk commended Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Germany's Central Council of Muslims, for his recent remarks in which he supported freedom of speech in society.
Gauk added that Muslims in various European countries, especially in France and Germany, have shown that they are part of the society and do not allow a “minority of terrorists” divide the nations.
The remarks by Gauk come against the backdrop of incessant efforts by some groups for stigmatizing the Muslims across Europe. The movement picked up fresh momentum after a January 7 attack on the office of a satirical magazine in France which left 12 people dead.
France’s the National Observatory against Islamophobia said Tuesday that there has been a 110-percent increase in Islamophobic incidents over the past two weeks compared to the whole of January last year.
Germany itself has seen numerous anti-Islam rallies over the past two weeks headed by a group called PEGIDA. German officials have repeatedly warned citizens to avoid joining the group, calling it an advocate of hatred in the society.
PEGIDA is a German acronym which stands for the “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West.”
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