ISLAMIC REPUBLIC NEWS AGENCY (IRNA): The German government here Friday condemned an international Islamophobic conference due to open later in the day in the western city of Cologne.
Addressing a regular weekly press briefing, a spokeswoman for the German Interior Ministry "condemned all extremist actions" related to the so-called 'Anti-Islamization Congress', hosted by the far-right group 'Pro Koeln'.
Gabriele Hermani stressed the far-right confab would negatively impact on efforts to promote peaceful co-existence between the German state and its Muslims citizens.
Tens of thousands of people were expected to take to the streets of Cologne to protest against the three-day Islamophobic meeting.
A wide spectrum of nationwide civic groups, among them labor, student, church and anti-racism groups, were due to join the protests and mass blockades.
Initial media reports pointed to a tense situation near the conference site, as counter-demonstrators were hoping to disrupt the anti-Islam meeting.
Efforts to ban the event failed because of legal reasons, according to Cologne Police President Klaus Steffenhagen.
Under surveillance by Germany's domestic Verfassungsschutz intelligence agency,`Pro Koeln` has invited around 1,000 right-wing extremists to the disputed meeting in Cologne, among them leading far-right politicians from the US, France, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Spain and Italy.
A major focus of 'Pro Koeln' has been its controversial opposition to the planned construction of a central mosque for Cologne's nearly 150,000-strong Muslim community.
‘Pro Cologne' has five seats in Cologne's 90-member city council.
There are 3.5 million Muslims living in Germany of which 2.5 million are Turks. [Source: IRNA] | September 19, 2008
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