The Berlin government wants to launch a day of action against Islamophobia. This was announced to German press agency dpa by the parliamentary party leaders of the SPD and CDU on the occasion of the Muslim Eid. ‘By introducing the 15th of March as a fixed day of remembrance and action against Islamophobia, we are strengthening social cohesion,’ said CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner.
The coalition intends to introduce a corresponding motion in parliament in the coming weeks. SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh told dpa that Muslims are an ‘integral and indispensable part of Berlin’. Everyone should be able to live freely in the capital because Berlin is the city of individual fulfilment. An open mosque day is planned for the 15th March, as well as talks between the Berlin Senate and mosque communities.
Berlin already has an official Open Mosque Day – since 1997 it has been held on the 3rd of October, the day of German reunification. The simultaneous date was deliberately chosen in order to ‘express the self-image of Muslims as part of German unity and their cross-religious solidarity with the population as a whole’, as the Schura Rhineland-Palatinate explained in a press release (Apollo News reported).
‘Berlin stands for diversity and cohesion of all religions. We stand together against all forms of discrimination,’ emphasised Stettner. ‘15 March will be another day that connects Berlin with the world,’ said Stettner and Saleh. The United Nations declared the 15th of March as the Day against Islamophobia back in 2022.