Petition protests against enhanced rights for Czech Muslims

Over 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Czech authorities not to award enhanced rights to the country’s Muslim community, the news website echo24.cz reported on Thursday. On September 17, the Muslim community will have been registered in the country for ten years; under Czech law, this would entitle the community to establish Islamic schools, teach Islam at public schools, and provide religious services in the army and in prisons. Muslim marriages would also be officially recognized. However, the Muslim community fails to meet some other conditions to be granted these rights, as only around 3.350 people declared themselves Muslims in the latest population census. The law meanwhile requires that 1 per-mille of the total population, or some 10,400 people, be members of a religious group to be received enhanced rights.