Experts warn silence over Muslim attacks could fuel radicalism

Attacks against Muslims in Vilnius and Kaunas currently under police investigation have not been condemned by the country’s leaders, LRT reports. Only a few politicians have spoken out, while experts warn that the lack of a public response could allow radicalism and violence to grow in society.

Why attacks have increased

Public complaints about parking spaces near the Kaunas mosque were followed by an action in which a pig’s head was brought to the place of worship and the participants played loud music. This weekend, a video also circulated that allegedly showed the Quran being burned in Vilnius about a week earlier. A protest against migrants is also due to be held soon.

Experts interviewed by LRT noted that the recent actions have been directed not at politicians or decision-makers, but at religious Muslims.

Karolis Žibas, a sociologist and founder of the Diversity Development Group organisation, described actions such as displaying a pig’s head near a mosque as “absolutely inappropriate”. He said complaints that Muslims in Lithuania do not fit inside the mosque were a practical issue. In his view, the state should want the community to pray in recognised places of worship rather than in premises set up on its own initiative in residential buildings.

“The wrong target was chosen: if you are dissatisfied with pensioners’ policy, do you go to pensioners with a pig’s head, or to politicians? It is the same in the area of migration. The problems would probably already have been de-escalated if not only community leaders but also representatives of the Kaunas municipality had been invited,” he said, discussing the incident in Kaunas.

Aurelija Auškalnytė, a human rights activist and project manager at the Mental Health Perspectives organisation, noted that although participants in the actions and their supporters on social media speak about the threat posed by Muslim migrants, statistics do not show a significant increase in migrants from Islamic countries.

“This is definitely not an invasion, not an influx. I am sorry, I do not even want to repeat such words; they are completely inappropriate. If society and politicians decide that there should be less migration and that labour market problems should be addressed differently, that is fine,” she said.

Auškalnytė also said that assessments of the threat posed by migrants were subjective.

“It may genuinely seem that Lithuania has become particularly diverse, unlike before, because you walk down the street and the variety of faces appears to have increased. But let us imagine, for example, the beginning of the 20th century: perhaps people who came from villages in Dzūkija or Žemaitija could not understand one another in the city. Perhaps they represented greater diversity to one another than we see today, when we notice different faces but all listen to the same music?” she asked.

Žibas said attacks against migrants were not connected to real threats and that most migrants in Lithuania were still Ukrainians and Belarusians. The typical Muslim migrant, he said, was a long-haul driver from Central Asia who would probably not even be encountered on the street.

“Changes in attitudes are linked not to the scale of migration, but to the rhetoric in public discourse. We see that the number of migrants from Muslim countries is increasing. It is not increasing exponentially; with new control mechanisms, it has been stabilised in 2021–2026,” the sociologist said.

Experts call for politicians to speak out

According to the people interviewed by LRT, the recent events and attacks have highlighted the fact that the country’s highest-ranking politicians have not condemned them. Several right-wing politicians have spoken instead about alleged problems with migration policy.

Žibas said that public disassociation by politicians would help ease the situation.

“They continue to comment through a broader lens, saying that this has nothing to do with radicalisation or the escalation of ethnic tensions, and that migration processes are taking place. This does not reduce tension; it continues to fuel it,” he said.