Muslim leaders on bus tour against terror stop at Berlin attack site
A group of imams travelling across Europe by bus to protest acts of terror carried out in the name of Islam gathered in front of Berlin's iconic Gedaechtniskirche church on Sunday to recall the victims of a vehicle attack on a Christmas market last year.
- World
- AFP
- Published Date: 12:00 | 09 July 2017
- Modified Date: 05:21 | 09 July 2017
Around 30 Muslim leaders from across Europe gathered Sunday for a rally against terror in Berlin at the site of a deadly truck attack in December, claimed by the Daesh terrorist organization.
The event, which attracted a few hundred participants, was part of a "March of Muslims Against Terrorism" by imams who set off by bus from Paris on Saturday.
The gathering in the German capital took place at the Breitscheidplatz square, where a Tunisian who had failed in his attempt to seek asylum ploughed a hijacked lorry through crowds at a Christmas market, an attack that killed 12 people.
The Islamic leaders held a prayer for the victims, joined by local Muslim, Christian and Jewish representatives.
Imam Hocine Drouiche from the southern French city of Nimes was quoted by German media as saying that the event was meant to send a "message of fraternity against terrorism".
The Lutheran bishop for the Berlin region, Markus Droege, praised the imams' tour.
"Religion is the way of peace," he said. "Violence, hatred and terror betray faith and betray God."
A total of about 60 imams are meant to join the tour of European cities, taking in Brussels, Toulouse and Nice -- which have all suffered deadly assaults by Islamic extremist assailants -- before returning to Paris on Friday.