Minister criticizes Muslim youths for hostility towards Germans

Nov 2, 2010, 10:30 GMT

Berlin - German Family Minister Kristina Schroeder on Tuesday criticized Muslim youths for displaying hostility towards Germans.

'Such abuse is unfortunately commonplace amongst youths in certain areas - in the school yard, but also in the underground,' Schroeder told daily tabloid Bild.

'We are dealing with fundamentally hostile attitudes towards other groups - particularly against Germans and Christians,' the minister continued, adding, 'We need to act as decisively against this as against xenophobia.'

Her comments come amid a fierce debate currently taking place in Germany about the integration of the country's 4 million Muslims, the majority of whom are of Turkish origin.

Schroeder emphasised that she was criticizing a small group of Muslim youths, and said their hostile behaviour was down to 'poor education and bad friends, as well as macho norms and family violence.'

She also announced plans to set up additional facilities to help children learn to integrate and speak German at 4,000 nurseries across the country.

In recent weeks the family minister also drew attention to the fact that ethnic German children were being bullied in schools that had a high quotient of pupils from immigrant backgrounds.

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