16 September 2004

BERLIN - Germans hold negative views about Islam and a big majority believe there is a "clash of civilizations" following the attack on a school on southern Russia earlier this month, a poll said.

"Germans find Islam foreign and threatening," said the head of Germany's Allensbach polling agency, Elisabeth Noelle, in remarks published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.

When asked what they think of in association with the word "Islam" some 93 percent of Germans said "oppression of women", 83 percent said "terror", 82 percent said "fanatics and radicals", 70 percent said "dangerous", 66 per cent said "backward", 45 percent said "hospitality" and 6 percent said both "tolerance" and "nice".

A survey before the terrorist attack on the Russian school in Beslan showed 44 percent of Germans believed there was a clash of civilizations between Islam and the Christian world.

But asked the same question after the Beslan attack, some 62 percent said there is now a clash of civilizations.

A far greater number of Germans - 57 percent - are willing to accept limits to civil liberties following the Beslan attack to help the fight against terrorism.

Prior to the attack just 40 percent were will to give up civil rights for the war on terror.

Germany is home to over 3 million Muslims out of a total population of 82 million. The biggest group are Turkish nationals who number just under 2 million.

DPA

Subject: German news