Notoriously Islamophobic Austrian Chancellor Kicks Out Muslims and Shuts Down Mosques
Last edited Fri Jun 8, 2018, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Think Progress
The right-wing government in Austria has escalated its hostility toward Muslims in the country by announcing this week that it plans to shut down seven mosques and deport between 40 and 60 Islamic clerics who receive foreign funding.
The coalition government, led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, said that this is "just the beginning" of its fight against what it sees as "radical Islam," Reuters reported on Friday. Kurz's name might sound familiar, as he's been mentioned in news stories earlier this week after President Donald Trump's new ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, praised him in an interview he gave to Breitbart.
Apparently falling under the spell of Kurz's youthful looks -- as much of the media did when he blazed onto the political scene last fall -- Grenell called Kurz a "rock star," adding that he's a "big fan" while noting that he'd like Kurz to empower European conservatives. He's since tried to backpedal, tweeting that he definitely wasn't supporting any particular parties and that he was only trying to support the "silent majority ... Led by Trump."
One man's rock-star is another man's racist, it seems, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman calling Kurz's new policy an "Islamophobic, racist and discriminatory wave." Of Austria's 8.8 million people, around 600,000 are Muslims, many of them of Turkish descent. One of the Islamic groups targeted is the Turkish-Islamic Union for Cultural and Social Cooperation in Austria, which has close ties to the Turkish government...More..
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/austria-chancellor-muslims-shutting-down-mosques-03e48e7b9fdb/
Reuters, "Austria to Shut Down Mosques, Expel Foreign-Funded Imams," And *VIDEO Report*, June 8, '18, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-politics-islam/austria-plans-to-shut-down-mosques-expel-foreign-funded-imams-idUSKCN1J40X1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Kurz
- Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz arrives ahead of a European Council Meeting at the Council of the European Union building on October 19, 2017 in Brussels, Belgium.
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