Berlin records 51% rise in anti-Muslim incidents in 2025, rights group says

Anti-Muslim incidents recorded in Berlin rose sharply in 2025, a rights group said Monday, citing a tally that includes discrimination, threats and dangerous physical assaults.

CLAIM, an alliance that monitors Islamophobic attacks, said it recorded 975 incidents in the German capital last year, a 51% increase from 2024.

“Our annual report clearly shows that anti-Muslim racism is an everyday reality for many people in Berlin,” CLAIM co-director Rima Hanano said in a statement.

“Particularly alarming are the 65 documented cases of physical assault, including eight classified as dangerous bodily harm,” she said.

The report described a range of hate-motivated threats and attacks, saying women were spat on in trams for wearing headscarves and, in some cases, had their headscarves torn off.

It also cited threats against mosques and years of anti-Muslim hate messages from a neighbor that, the group said, had continued despite repeated police reports and without apparent consequences.

Germany has Western Europe’s second-largest Muslim population after France, with nearly 5.5 million Muslims among its nearly 83.5 million residents. In recent years, the country has seen a rise in anti-Muslim racism and violence, driven by far-right political parties and movements, including the opposition Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

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