Fri 21 August 2020:
Toronto police need to do more to protect Muslim communities after several recent attacks on mosques that are not being investigated as hate crimes, Islamic organizations says
Masjid Toronto in the city’s downtown has been the site of six attacks in the past three months, three attacks each at two mosques.
The mosque in downtown Toronto that Hassam Munir, 25, visits regularly has been attacked by vandals numerous times in the past three months, most recently on Sunday, when its windows were found smashed again.
Although arrests have been made over the repeated attacks at the Masjid Toronto, which is part of the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC), Munir says he is still deeply concerned.
“It seems to be that someone is trying to intimidate the Muslim community. This is unacceptable,” Munir said.
“I am worried, not only for those that work and pray here but also for what these kind of attacks tell us about the ignorance and hate that exists in our society.
“No Canadian should feel unsafe in their place of worship,” said Munir, who also works for the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, which aims to break down Islamophobic narratives.
Masjid Toronto has been subject to a sixth attack in 3 months. We call on Interim @jamesramertps and @TPSOperations to address these attacks and further investigate these hate incidents and Islamophobic acts towards our community.https://t.co/fLV1Vr5Jsr pic.twitter.com/u453hcxQwB
— Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) (@MACNational) August 17, 2020
These attacks have included break-ins, broken windows and racist graffiti on windows and walls. On Monday, someone broke one of the mosque’s windows.
The windows had just been fixed, and now will be repaired for the third time in three weeks, the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) said in a statement posted to its website.
“These incidents are now occurring at a frightening rate and we cannot accept to wait any longer for police action,” the organization said.
The MAC is calling for authorities to “step up” to offer the necessary protection right now, adding that the attacks are meant to intimidate the Muslim community at one of Toronto’s most-visited mosques.
This week, the Masjid Toronto found its window broken for the third time in three weeks, making the incident – along with vandalism to another MAC mosque also located downtown – the sixth time local mosques have been attacked in three months.
In addition to the broken windows, there have been attempts to break into the mosques, and racist graffiti has been scrawled on the walls and windows, according to MAC.
“These incidents are now occurring at a frightening rate and we cannot accept to wait any longer for police action,” MAC said in a statement published on Sunday.
It added that local authorities should step up and offer the needed protection, noting that the attacks are meant to intimidate the Muslim community.
Toronto police spokesperson Jenifferjit Sidhu confirmed police are aware of four reports of mischief at two Toronto mosques since the beginning of June. All have been investigated and none are believed to be hate motivated, she said.
Another spokesperson later said there are six investigations ongoing that could change “dependent on where evidence takes us.” Two arrests have been made, and the hate crime unit is aware of the incidents, media relations manager Connie Osborne said.
… we have not yet been given any indication about what’s going to be done to securitize and to protect this mosque …Mustafa Farooq
Sidhu said a man was arrested for an incident on July 29 in which he allegedly threw a brick through one of the mosque’s windows. While the MAC says it filed a police report for the most recent incident, Toronto Police says it didn’t receive one.
Mustafa Farooq, the CEO of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, told HuffPost Canada the police’s process of investigating the attacks “doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
He said the current understanding is that police ruled out a hate crime days after the first suspect was identified, which is “problematic.”
“Most importantly, these attacks keep happening, and we have not yet been given any indication about what’s going to be done to securitize and to protect this mosque from continuing to face attacks,” Farooq said.
‘Eradication of Muslims’
While there has been no conclusion about who or what is behind the attacks at Masjid Toronto, instances of Islamophobia have occured elsewhere in Canada.
In April during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a man drove to Al Rashid Mosque, the largest mosque in Edmonton, Alberta, surveilled worshippers and threatened to start a “Ramadan Bombathon” in a video while staking out the premises.
More than two weeks after his videos were posted to social media, the NCCM noted that the Edmonton Police Service had not charged him.
Last month, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) charged a Quebec man with advocating genocide – a first in the province’s history – after he allegedly published “disturbing online posts”.
Investigators found around 100 hate posts or threats inciting violence.
“The accused called for the death of [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau and encouraged the eradication of Muslims,” the RCMP said in a statement.
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