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The group was small, but the gesture was great. Martin Hikel, mayor of the Berlin district of Neukölln, had invited a commemorative event on Monday afternoon. The aim was to pay tribute to the latest victims of Islamist violence, especially in France. Therefore, about 20 people had gathered in front of the Neukölln town hall. The meeting seemed almost casual next to the noisy rush hour traffic on Karl-Marx-Strasse. But she had weight.
Because in addition to representatives of the Catholic and Protestant Church, in addition to the green politician Cem Özdemir, Imam Mohamed Taha Sabri also put a white rose on the coat of arms of Neukölln. It should be a tentative end point after some pretty hot days in the district. “We live together in peace here. This is what defines us,” Mayor Hikel said in his short speech. “Especially here, where there is great diversity.”
Many people of Muslim faith live in Neukölln, and if there is a conflict anywhere in the world that also involves Islam, it quickly finds its echo here. This has also been the case since the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty in Paris in mid-October. Paty had been beheaded in the street for showing cartoons in class that defamed the Prophet Muhammad. President Emmanuel Macron defended freedom of expression in France and called for tougher measures against Islamists in the country. This provoked some harsh reactions, including from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who called for a boycott of French products. “These incidents always have an impact here in Neukölln,” said a district spokesman.
Last week, young people had repeatedly gathered at Hermannplatz to demonstrate against Macron and the Mohammed cartoons. Last Saturday, a group of about 20 people showed up in Sonnenallee, one of the central streets of Neukölln. A man spoke loudly in Arabic, he was dressed in a traditional white robe and was pulling another person behind him with a rope. She wore a blonde wig and an Emmanuel Macron mask and was humiliated by false belt blows, kicks and insults. A similar scene occurred on Sunday at Alexanderplatz. YouTuber Fayez Kanfash, 24, was arrested by the police. Videos of both appearances are circulating on the net.
In both cases, state security has now taken over the investigation, although it is not yet clear whether it is a political-religious protest or simply a satire. “If the man wanted to make a joke, then it is a shitty joke. If he is serious, then he has seriously harmed Muslims,” Imam Taha Sabri said on the sidelines of the memorial event. “It only provided material for those who hate Islam.”
In the district itself, the incident is fairly quiet. The situation in Neukölln is always a bit “fragile”, says spokesman Christian Berg. But the “protests at Hermannplatz were very peaceful.” Just because someone shouts “Allahu Akbar”, God is great, does not mean there is any danger. “We are actually quite relaxed.” Even religious incidents in the Middle East can be felt in Neukölln. “Then there’s a demo and a demo and then it’s usually good again.”
Berg considers other incidents to be really troublesome. Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan wanted to come to Berlin last week. His Islamophobic splinter party, “Stram Kurs,” had called a rally in Sonnenallee on Facebook on Wednesday. Right-wing extremists had publicly burned a Koran in similar events. But the German police intercepted Paludan upon landing on the plane. In his speech, District Mayor Martin Hikel thanked the police and said: “In Neukölln no Quran is burned.”
