NRW Prime Minister Wüst criticizes the muezzin call project in Cologne

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) criticized a muezzin call project in Cologne a few weeks before the state elections. "I'm concerned that this may bring more conflict into society than it serves integration," he told the KNA news agency.

Since last October, Islamic communities in a Cologne pilot project have been allowed to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer on Fridays for up to five minutes via loudspeaker, provided that the city administration has approved a corresponding application. Mayor Henriette Reker (independent) said at the time that “diversity is valued and lived” in the cathedral city.

Wüst said that the muezzin call falls under freedom of religion, but that so far it has only been applied for in isolated cases in North Rhine-Westphalia. "In the past few years, this has led to a high degree of social pacification on this subject."

Source: Junge Freiheit