Vandals damaged or destroyed dozens of graves belonging to Muslims in the Austrian city of Graz, heightening tensions in the southern city where a local politician made disparaging comments about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Police in Graz, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Vienna, said about 60 gravestones belonging to Muslims were found overturned or broken in the central cemetery, but said it was unclear when the vandalism took place. Officials said they could not rule out the possibility that extreme-right groups active in the city may have been behind the attack.

Tensions have risen in Graz since a local female politician from the right-wing Freedom Party disparaged the Prophet Muhammad, calling him a “child molester” who wrote the Quran during “fits of epilepsy.”

Al Arabiya, 6 February 2008

I have started this blogg on the Europe Day. I hope that Europe is not going to become another €mpire exploiting and discriminating “other”, “inferior”, “less developed”, ghettoized peoples and regions.

Today, the 9th of May has become a European symbol (Europe Day) which, along with the flag, the anthem, the motto and the single currency (the euro), identifies the political entity of the European Union. Europe Day is the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and peoples of the Union closer to one another.

On the 9th of May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the “Schuman declaration”, is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.