Elham Asaad Buaras

A right-wing extremist was arrested in Austria earlier this month after he allegedly placed two pig heads on a fence at an Islamic centre and smeared blood across the walls of its new mosque. 46-year-old Thomas K, who is known right-wing extremist, is alleged to have arrived at the mosque being built in the southern city of Graz at night allegedly carrying two pigs heads, police said.

The gruesome act was discovered by members of the Graz Islamic Centre.

“They were sitting in the clubhouse watching football and so hadn’t noticed what was going on outside, When they left the building, the police were there, as a passer-by had informed them,” said spokesman for the centre, Aldin Bektas.

“He put the pig heads on the construction site and smeared the minaret with blood,” police spokesman Leo Josephus said.

He is thought to be unemployed and a vocal member of the far-right group Partei des Volkes (Party of the People). It is not the first time that pig heads have been placed at a large Islamic centre site. In 2012 six bloody heads appeared but it was not clear who left them there.

Last month, the interior ministry said there was a 54 percent rise in extremist and racist incidents in 2015, ranging from vandalism and assaults to fanning hatred against foreigners.