Berlin, Aug 30, IRNA — The book presentation of German Central Bank executive, Thilo Sarrazin was marred by protests in Berlin Monday morning over his Islamophobic comments.
A large crowd of protesters jeered Sarrazin as he was arriving at the Bundespressehauskonferenz media center to launch his book ‘Germany Abolishes Itself: How We Are Risking The Future of Our Nation’ which alleges Muslims were a threat to German society.
Demonstrators strongly condemned Sarrazin’s racist remarks and his anti-Islam incitement.
They likened the 65-year-old Bundesbank board member to a Nazi.
Sarrazin has faced public criticism for saying Islamic culture was responsible for the failure of migrants of Muslim background to integrate into German society.
The controversial politician is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), whose executive committee decided on Monday to launch proceedings to kick him out of the party.
Meanwhile, the German government urged the Bundesbank to react to Sarrazin’s scandalous remarks.
The chairman of the Bundesbank, Axel Weber is expected to give a statement on the issue later in the day.
Reacting to Sarrazin’s ongoing Islamophobic comments over the past days, the head of Germany’s Turkish community, Kenan Kolat called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to fire the central bank official from his post.
‘I am calling upon the government to begin a procedure to remove Thilo Sarrazin from the board of the central bank,’ Kolat told the daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau over the weekend.
‘It is the climax of a new intellectual racism and it damages Germany’s reputation abroad,’ added Kolat.
Critics of Sarrazin have already likened him to the Dutch Islamophobic politician Geert Wilders.