Muslim Council of Montreal disturbed by alleged hate crime at Hamilton mosque

December 7, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, Quebec, December 7th, 2011- The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is disturbed by the recent alleged hate crime that occurred Sunday at the Hamilton Downtown Mosque, in Hamilton, Ontario.

“Canada is a place of peace, tolerance, diversity and pluralism and such hateful actions go against all the values of our charter, constitution and country,” stated Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM. “It is especially hurtful for these attacks to come as Muslims around the world are celebrating the start of the new Islamic year. All places of worship must be safe spaces for peaceful worship and reflection, especially in light of the fact that they are often frequented by innocent, young children. We thank the Hamilton police hate crime unit for investigating whether this constitutes as a hate crime and hope that they will be swift to apprehend the perpetrators.”

Two copies of a cartoon image depicting the burning of the Quran in an open fire were found taped to an entrance of the mosque. Plants around the mosque were also uprooted. Mosque security surveillance footage shows a car with two passengers pulling up in the mosques parking lot and one man exiting the vehicle holding what appears to be the cartoon images.

 

MCM urges all officials and members of the community to exercise increased caution and report any suspicious individuals or activity to the authorities immediately.

 

 

CONTACT:

Salam Elmenyawi

Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM)

Ph.: (514) 748-8427

E-mail: info@muslimcouncil.org

Website: http://www.muslimcouncil.org

 

 

 

The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is an umbrella organization representing a number of Islamic institutions in the Montreal region. There are over 275,000 Muslims in Montreal, about 1,200,000 in Canada and 1.9 billion worldwide.

 

 

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