Schoolgirls set Muslim student's headscarf on fire
By Lisa Chapman

Two school girls are facing expulsion after they set a 15-year-old Muslim girl’s headscarf on fire.

The pair attacked the teenager during a school trip last week at Catholic charity Caritas’ school for business professions in Graz.

Caritas spokesman Harald Schmied said today (Weds) the motive for the attack had been personal, not religious.

He added: "It was an incident that was very unusual at this school for its symbolic dimension and emotional abuse. Fortunately, the headscarf did not fully catch on fire and was only singed."

Schmied said two girls responsible for the attack had been warned in writing that they could be expelled if anything similar happened again.

He added the school, which has many students with a migrant background, promoted integration and mutual tolerance and respect and that while tensions developed at times they were "constructively handled" rather than "swept under the table".

Austrian Times

http://www.austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2009-09-30/16807/Schoolgirls_set_Muslim_student's_headscarf_on_fire