Several Muslim religious communities say they experience parents refusing to send their children to the mosque for fear of meeting Stop the Islamization of Norway (SIAN) activists.
“Muslim children witness their religion being attacked,” Tahir Mahmood Salam, general manager of Søndre Nordstrand Muslim Centre, told the newspaper Vårt Land.
He contacted the police after a Koran was set on fire outside their mosque in March this year.
Earlier this month, Salam and the Centre, and a number of other Muslim religious communities, sent a letter to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (SP).
Salam says they do not want to restrict freedom of expression but feels that Koran burning should be labeled a hate crime.
In the letter, they write that they believe the Norwegian authorities are violating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and that Muslim children should not be exposed to hate speech on their way to the mosque.
They say that they are contacted by parents who do not dare to send their children to activities in the mosque for fear of meeting activists from Stop the Islamization of Norway (SIAN).
In a comment to Vårt Land, Sian leader Lars Thorsen says that it is sharia to refuse protests outside the mosque.
“It is pathetic to push children in front of them as they do in this letter,” he noted.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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