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Memorials to "head-scarf martyr" vandalized in Germany (Roundup)
Jul 23, 2010, 12:53 GMT
Berlin - Three memorials to a murdered Muslim woman in Dresden, Germany have been vandalized, police said Friday.
Marwa el-Shirbini, 31, was dubbed the 'head-scarf martyr' in some Islamic nations after a Russian-born, self-confessed racist stabbed her to death in July 2009 in a courtroom. He was on trial for insulting her over her Islamic dress and appearance.
Buerger Courage, an anti-racist group, this month erected 18 small concrete pillars, shaped like upwards-pointed knife blades, at different places in the German city to make people think about the murdered young Egyptian mother.
Two pillars were overturned and smashed at some point in the past few days by persons unknown. A police spokeswoman said a third pillar was found smashed near the city rail terminal on Thursday night.
The civic group said that the damage to their art installation, which was entitled Achtzehn Stiche, was 'malicious, deliberate, politically motivated destruction.' They added that plaques on the pillars which denounced neo-Nazis had also been stolen.
Police said the inquiry was still at an early stage and it was too soon to say if the evidence showed a political motive.
The city has opened an official monument to el-Shirbini inside the courthouse where she was stabbed. Achtzehn Stiche had official approval, but was treated as a temporary art show. The unemployed man who killed el-Shirbini is serving a life sentence for murder.
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