Muslim groups call for security funding after mosque attacks

Muslim organisations have asked the government to help fund security at mosques after a spate of attacks, but the justice ministry says the money is not on the table.

Islamic groups told the current affairs programme Nieuwsuur they fear further attacks, after several mosques were vandalised in a short space of time.

The Noeroel Islam mosque in The Hague was daubed with swastikas and racist slogans on Sunday, which police confirmed. In late May, six people pelted the Mevlana mosque in Rotterdam with beer bottles and urinated against the building.|

The CMO, which represents Muslim organisations in dealings with the government, said it would open a reporting point next month for vandalism and violence against mosques. Such incidents are not recorded centrally, but the CMO and the Islamic Foundation Netherlands say mosques are increasingly being targetted.

Call for equal funding
The CMO also wants the government to help pay for mosque security, pointing to the money already set aside for Jewish institutions. The cabinet allocated about €2 million this year to protect synagogues, schools and other Jewish sites, citing rising antisemitism and attacks.

CMO chair Muhsin Köktaş said he understood the government’s concern for Jewish institutions and wanted everyone protected. “We want equal treatment, but we do not see it,” he said.

Not on the table
The justice and security ministry told Nieuwsuur that funding specifically for mosque protection was “not on the table”. Decisions on extra security were based on threat assessments rather than “the identity of the institution”, a spokesperson said, and applied equally to all religious communities.

Rotterdam’s mayor, Carola Schouten, said reports to the city’s anti-Muslim-discrimination hotline were rising, which showed it was “a real problem”. Police took two hours to reach the Mevlana mosque after the May incident.

Köktaş linked the incidents to a hardening political climate, with hostility towards Muslims expressed more openly, including online. He said a community of more than a million people was being judged by its worst few.

Ismail el Abassi, an MP for the left-wing party Denk, has said he will request a parliamentary debate on the vandalism.