Burqas or bus seats? Image sparks anti-Muslim Facebook debate (PHOTO)

An anti-immigrant Norwegian Facebook group is being mocked online for mistaking an image of an empty bus for women wearing burqas.

The image was posted to the private Facebook group Fedrelandet viktigst, or ‘Fedrelandet first’, by a Norwegian user Johan Slåttavik, who posed the question: “what do you think about this?”

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A screenshot of the guesses shared in the photo’s comment section showed many of the group’s nearly 13,000 members were somehow appalled by the innocuous image.

“Frightening,” “disease,” “tragic,” “disgusting,” “oppression of women” read some of the responses.

Meanwhile, other group members speculated about the figures potentially hiding “weapons and bombs”.

“I thought this would be true in the year 2050, but it is happening NOW!” wrote one of the more alarmed commenters.

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Screenshots of the furor were shared online by Sindre Beyer, who asked: “What happens when a picture of some empty seats is posted on a disgusting group on Facebook and almost everyone thinks they see a bunch of burqas?”