North Rhine-Westphalia’s state premier Hendrik Wüst ( Christian Democratic Union, CDU) has criticised a project in Cologne to have a municipal muezzin call just a few weeks before the state parliamentary elections. “I am concerned that this may bring more strife into society than serve integration,” he told the news agency KNA.
Since last October, Islamic communities in a Cologne model project have been allowed to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer on Fridays for up to five minutes via loudspeakers, as long as a corresponding application has been approved by the city administration. Mayor Henriette Reker (no party affiliation) said at the time that “diversity is appreciated and lived” in the cathedral city.
Wüst said that although the call of the muezzin falls under the freedom of religion, it has only been applied for in isolated cases in North Rhine-Westphalia so far. “This has led to a high degree of social peace on this issue in recent years.” In Cologne, this “peace is now being interfered with without need or reason”.