Becirov skyller media för etniska motsättningar

"Targets have included a mosque and a police station"

"Bejzat Becirov, the 72-year-old founder and leader of a mosque in Malmö, says that his mosque has survived 300 hate attacks — including fire bombs —since it opened in 1983. In the early years, he had to whitewash swastikas from the building's façade. But he believes relations between Muslim migrants and Swedes have lately grown worse. On New Year's Eve last year, a shot was fired through a window of the mosque — police are now re-evaluating whether the attack was linked to the more recent shootings.

Becirov blames popular stereotypes of Muslims in the Swedish media for rising ethnic tensions. When he first issued the call to the faithful 30 years ago, "an Imam was associated with a rich Sheik," he says. "But now they are widely associated with terrorists."

But despite Becirov's despair, it would seem that the bulk of Malmö's population relishes the city's multi-ethnic mix."

Källa, Time onsdag 10 november 2010:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2030460,00.html