Anti-immigration Facebook group confuses bus chairs with women wearing burkas

Members of an anti-immigration Facebook group in Norway looked at a picture of empty bus seats and saw a threat.

The group Fedrelandet viktigst, which translates roughly to Fatherland First, jumped to the conclusion that it was a group of women wearing burkas.

“What do people think about this?” the post read.

In the comments, people said it was “frightening,” “tragic,” and others were worried the supposed women had “weapons and bombs” under the burkas, The Local reported.

“It looks really scary, should be banned. You can never know who is under there. Could be terrorists with weapons,” one comment read.

Their reactions went viral after Sindre Beyer shared screenshots of the comments on Facebook.

“What happens when it puts out a picture of some empty seats on a brungrumsete group on Facebook and almost everyone thinks they see a bunch of burqa? (sic)” a translation of Beyer’s post said.

The group’s comments were widely mocked and garnered international attention.

Beyer told Norweigan news outlet Nettavisen he wanted to share the post so people could see what was happening.

“I’m shocked by how much hate and fake news is spread there. The hatred that was displayed toward some empty bus seats really shows how much prejudices trump wisdom,” he said.

The sentiment isn’t isolated to one Facebook group; just last month Norway’s government party proposed a law to ban face coverings in schools and universities — including kindergartens.

France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria have all imposed restrictions on wearing full-face veils in public places.

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*with a file from Reuters