BERLIN — Nine wooden spikes topped with parts of a dead pig were planted on a plot of land where Muslims are planning to build a mosque in the eastern city of Erfurt, German police said Monday.

The 1.5 meter-tall (nearly 5-foot) stakes were topped with half of a pig’s head, pig feet, and pig bowels among other things, the German news agency dpa reported. Police say whoever was responsible is unknown.

Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims.

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There have been repeated protests against the construction of the Ahmadiyya mosque in Erfurt, including one by protesters who erected large Christian crosses on a neighboring property.

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A spokesman for the Erfurt community, Mohammed Suleman Malik, said in a statement to The Associated Press that “while such acts do not make us lose our composure … we find it very sad that people go down to such a level.”

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.