Cologne, Germany - Some 20,000 Alevi Muslims took to the streets of Cologne, Germany, Sunday to protest a public television plotline depicting incest in an Alevi family.
The ARD channel, which produces the "Tatort" detective series, released a statement Sunday expressing regret for the incident and apologizing for inadvertently reinforcing stereotypes, Deutsche Welle reported.
But depictions were particularly sensitive for many of the German Alevis, since Muslims from the much larger Sunni sect have accused them of incest for centuries, because they allow women and children to participate in religious rituals, the newspaper said.
About 2 million Alevis, most of whom came from Turkey, live in Germany.