Elham Asaad Buaras

A Muslim student filed a criminal complaint after her lecturer expelled her from a seminar for wearing a hijab before likening the attire to the swastika insignia, her lawyer announced on June 12.

The incident is alleged to have occurred during an economics class at the campus of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University in northern Germany.

Gülşen Kurt also accuses her professor of using racist remarks during the outburst. “Article 4 of the German Constitution protects religious freedom, and a student can attend lessons while wearing a headscarf. The attitude of this professor is unacceptable,” her lawyer Fatih Zingal said.

The event is the latest in a series of Islamophobic incidents and hate crimes in Germany, which have primarily targeted Muslim women. Kurt said most students reacted and left the class in protest.

“The professor said that he would not allow a student with a headscarf to attend the class, just as he would not allow a neo-Nazi with the swastika, He shouted at me, saying, ‘You are an Islamo-fascist’, and that he would report me to the directorate,” she said.

Kurt said the directorate had apologised for the racist slurs in class and underlined that the university administration does not approve of the lecturer’s behaviour.

Germany, with a population of over 84 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe, after France. According to government data, it is home to almost 5 million Muslims.

The country has witnessed growing racism and Islamophobia in recent years, fuelled by the propaganda of far-right groups and parties.

German police recorded 5,372 xenophobic incidents and 610 Islamophobic hate crimes last year.