Austria’s right-wing government plans to shut seven mosques and could expel dozens of imams in what it said was “just the beginning” of a push against radical Islam and foreign funding of religious groups that Turkey condemned as racist.
“Political Islam’s parallel societies and radicalizing tendencies have no place in our country,” said Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who, in a previous job as minister in charge of integration, steered the Islam bill into law.
Standing next to him and two other cabinet members on Friday, far-right Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache told a news conference: “This is just the beginning.”
Austria, a country of 8.8 million people, has roughly 600,000 Muslim inhabitants, most of whom are Turkish or have families of Turkish origin.
Sources:
(1) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/austria-shut-7-mosques-expel-dozens-imams-180608074940766.html
(2) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-politics-islam/austria-plans-to-shut-down-mosques-expel-foreign-funded-imams-idUSKCN1J40X1