“Amazing how the wave of indignation is many times higher than in the current, terrible daily abuses and bomb threats against German mosques by alleged right-wing extremists,” he told the news agency dpa.
The Central Council of Jews also warned against verbal attacks on Muslims because of the pork ban. “The last thing we need is hate against minorities just because food is being considered in an institution,” said Central Council President Josef Schuster.
Schuster parised the greater sensitivity for religious traditions or needs of minorities that are currently being considered.
In the German city of Leipzig, two day-care centers canceled pork and gummy bears from the menu last Tuesday out of consideration for… two Muslim children. After the case made headlines, the facilities suddenly rowed back as parents expressed their indignation.
The director of the two centers, Wolfgang Schäfer, said plans were being put on hold for now following the outrage. “We’re overwhelmed by the whole thing”, he told dpa.
Plans to no longer serve the majority of German children pork or gelatin-containing products like gummy bears at two daycare centers in Leipzig have made headlines across the country.
The Bild newspaper first reported on the daycare centers’ proposal, saying the decision to make the changes came from consideration for the two Muslim children.
“Out of respect for a changing world, only pork-free meals and snacks will be ordered and served starting from July 15”, read a letter sent to parents, according to Bild.
But the boiling anger of German parents prompted Leipzig police to deploy patrol cars outside both of the daycare centers to protect the two establishments against “possible dangers”.
On social media the number one trending issue was #Schweinefleisch [pork] on Twitter for most of the day. The outrage even led to four complaints being lodged with the Press Council about the reporting of the Bild newspaper.
The complainants called the reporting “inappropriate, tendentious and an inflammatory presentation”, according to the self-regulatory media body on Friday in Berlin responding on request of the Evangelical Press Service (epd).
If and when the complaints are submitted to the Appeals Committee, the examination will take place in the next week.
On Wednesday, the tabloid had headlined the pork menu ban: “No gummy bears, no schnitzel, no Easter – kneeling before the wrong people”. The newspaper noted in the article: “Pork and gummy bears will be taboo in the future. And, instead of Christmas and Easter, soon there will be only Ramadan and a sugar festival as themes of daycare.”
Beatrix von Storch, an AfD parliamentarian, described it as “cultural subjugation” for both daycares to disregard German children, and cater to Muslim children instead. Many classic German dishes contain pork: from schnitzel to sausages to gelatin-containing gummy bears.
In many daycares and schools, children who do not eat certain meats for whatever dietary restriction, are offered an alternative anyway.
Erfurt media scientist Kai Hafez told Deutschlandfunk on Thursday that the tabloid has been “turned into a right-wing conservative and right-wing populist” outlet.
But former editor-in-chief of the Bild am Sonntag, Michael Spreng, said that Bild was fighting for its existence and has become the “front organisation of the AfD”. The newspaper pursues no anti-Muslim agenda, but has recognized a “market gap” he said.