On March 20, a group of Muslim men prayed en masse in the street, facing Mecca, marking the end of Ramadan.
Their actions even paralyzed pedestrian traffic on Ilukstes Street. The police were called, but now weightlifter Rebeka Ibrahim (Koha) is trying to explain what happened, writes Santa.lv.
If that day ended with a police call, since then, nationally minded users on social media have periodically recalled the incident and drawn parallels with incidents involving Muslims in other European countries.
One of the most well-known Muslim women in Latvia, weightlifter Rebeka Ibrahim, voiced her position regarding the incident on TikTok. She became a Muslim a few years ago, and for a time, due to her faith and love, she even left Latvia and sports, but almost a year ago, she expressed her desire to represent Latvia in competitions again and returned to her former coach.
In her address on TikTok, the athlete tries to explain what exactly happened on March 20 on Ilukstes Street.
Rebeka condemns commentators who expressed outrage over such prayers in the street.
"I am Latvian, I live here, and I wish no harm to anyone. I would not want all Muslims to be labeled negatively as bad. It was just a prayer. I know many Muslim families in Latvia — we are very peaceful people," Rebeka stated.
She acknowledges that commentators compared this prayer to previous events that were not positive. "Now people mention nationality and religion, saying that Muslims harass young girls. Harassment is unacceptable under any circumstances — neither towards a young girl, nor an adult woman, man, or child. But I would not want one or two cases, where this was done by a person of a certain nationality or religion, to turn into a generalization that all Muslims are bad, that everyone does evil and poses a threat. I can definitely say that this is not the case. I want to set people up for positivity, so that prayer in a public place is not perceived negatively and harshly," Rebeka noted.
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>@rebekaibrahiim I hope we can be more understanding and friendly☺️ #latvia #muslims #eid #ramadan #prayer ♬ original sound - rebekaibrahiim
