The principal at Drammen high school outside Oslo did not want Muslim students to skip class to pray during Ramadan. She apologized, when several students reacted, but now she is threatened with lynching.
Hanne Merete Hagby is headmaster at the school, which has over 200 Muslim pupils. She posted the following message:
“It is now Ramadan for our Muslim students. In this connection, there is an increased focus on prayer. We find that students use class time to pray. It is not okay to skip class or be late for class for this reason. This could give rise to a remark.”
She deleted the post after two hours.
“I deleted the post, because I saw that it was perceived differently than it was intended, and that it caused quite a stir.”
But deletion and an apology are clearly not enough, according to Drammens Tidende.
On the social media Jodel, a message was posted on Friday that a lynching would take place at Drammen gymnasium at 12.00 today.
The threat was aimed at the principal’s office, and the police linked it to the commotion surrounding a message from the principal on Monday that prayer was not a valid reason for absence from classes.
The police confirm the threat, and Geir Oustorp, head of the preventive section in the police, says that the police must be present at the school and ensure that everything runs smoothly.
“There are over 600 people who have given the thumbs up to the message at Jodel, but that does not necessarily mean that 600 will show up at the rector’s office at 12 o’clock,” says Oustorp.
600 people give thumbs up for the lynching of a superintendent in Drammen, that is.