In Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state, home to over 1.7 million Muslims, the establishment of an Anti-Muslim Racism Reporting Center (MEDAR) after three years of work has been announced, with plans for it to open in the spring of 2025.
According to state broadcaster WDR, this will be the first such center in the country, created by the NRW state government, where attacks and criminal incidents targeting Muslims will be documented and reported.
With the launch of MEDAR, racist activities against non-Muslim foreigners will also be documented and reported. The center, which is expected to open by March or April at the latest, is the result of three years of work.
NRW, the first federal state to set up its own reporting center for anti-Muslim incidents, has an estimated 1.7 million Muslims out of a total population of more than 18 million.
The state has witnessed numerous attacks on Muslims and their places of worship. In January 2022, a large number of Muslim graves were vandalized in Iserlohn, with headstones broken and overturned.
Additionally, in April 2022, the state launched the Research and Information Center on Anti-Semitism (RIAS NRW) to document anti-Semitic incidents.
