By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA, Turkey (AA): A woman wearing a headscarf was assaulted in Berlin, with her head covering torn off, local media reported on Saturday.

A 37-year-old attacker is said to have torn off the headscarf of the victim, 39, and hit her head and upper body, said the daily Der Tagesspiegel.

The attack took place in a restaurant in the Weissensee district, the daily added.

According to the daily, another racist attack took place in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district on Friday during which a man, 52, racially insulted two women.

The attacker was arrested and taken to a clinic for abnormal behavior before being released, the daily said.

Although Germany’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, Muslims, especially women wearing headscarves, often face discriminatory practices in education and the labor market.

The country has witnessed growing racism and Islamophobia in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of neo-Nazi groups and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Germany, a country of over 83 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country’s nearly 5.3 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.

[Map or Germany by CIA Factbook/Public Domain]