German citizens in Cologne are outraged at the planned construction of a giant mosque in the area, and they aren’t the only ones. Spiegel Online reports that the scheduled construction of more than 180 mosques in Germany is stirring not only right-wing resentment but also left-wing opposition.

Reporters described “turmoil” and an “enraged” audience at the school auditorium in Ehrenfeld where the Cologne mosque was publicly discussed.

Ill will over mosques like the one being built in Cologne is spreading rapidly throughout Germany, often to the surprise of local politicians. For a long time the establishment of Muslim prayer rooms provoked little protest, housed as they were mostly in residential buildings, shops and back courtyards. Recently, though, there has been an increasing number of acts of protest, some violent. Molotov cocktails were thrown through mosque windows in the Bavarian town of Lauingen; Christians set protest crosses inscribed with “Terra christiana est,” or “This is Christian land,” on the grounds of a mosque in Hanover; and construction trailers went up in flames in the Berlin district of Pankow.

These recent events reflect rising resentment in Germany against a perceived Islamic incursion. Spiegel Online continues:

The anti-Islam protest movement has also begun to spill over into city politics. In Cologne, for example, the extreme right anti-mosque initiative Pro Cologne captured five local government seats in recent elections. Now the group is aspiring to enter the national scene as Pro Germany, together with other like-minded organizations, some from the far-right fringe. Their approach follows the example of populist Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, whose anti-immigration party garnered a surprising degree of support before he was murdered in 2002.

Germans fear that Muslim mosques and places of worship will ultimately establish a completely parallel society within their nation. Compared to the attitudes of the British or, to perhaps a lesser degree, the French, Germany is much less enthusiastic about multicultural values and values its own culture, thank you very much. It is easy to see that Germany will lead the clash of civilizations between Europe and Islam, led by Iran. For more on this subject, read The King of the South.