Chancellor Schroeder's Greens coalition partner called on Tuesday for establishing a Muslim public holiday in Germany as a reaction to recent violence in the Netherlands. Both Germany's Greens Environment Minister, Juergen Trittin, and the deputy chairman of the Greens in parliament, Hans-Christian Stroebele were quoted in the newspaper Die Welt as backing the move. "Exactly such a sign is needed given the attacks in Holland," said Stroebele, who like Trittin hails from the party's "fundi" left-wing. But Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) were cool to the idea following a row earlier this month over a proposal to abolish the German Unity Day holiday in a bid to boost the economy. SPD government officials swiftly dropped the idea. "It's well-meaning but does not fit in with our current economic situation," said Dieter Wiefelspuetz, an SPD domestic security policy expert.
Leaders of the opposition Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU) poured cold water on the idea. "This nation has been strongly formed by Christianity," said the CDU Interior Minister of Brandenburg state, Joerg Schoenbohm. Guenther Beckstein, the Bavarian interior minister, said the proposal proved the Greens could not let go of their "starry-eyed" dream of a multi-cultural society which has long since "failed".
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In a related development, a Muslim preacher in Berlin issued a public apology for making strongly anti-German comments in a mosque which were secretly filmed by Germany's ZDF public TV. "These remarks were offensive and wrong," said a letter by the preacher who has not been named by media. The ZDF film shows the preacher at the Mevlana Mosque in Berlin's heavily Turkish Kreuzberg district saying: "These Germans, these atheists, these Europeans don't shave under their arms and their sweat collects under their hair with a revolting smell and they stink ... Hell lives for the infidels! Down with all democracies and all democrats!"