According to rahyafte (the missionaries and converts website):The windows of Imam Warch mosque are smashed and boarded up. Its doors locked.
On Saturday, large pieces of cement were thrown through the windows, covering the carpeting inside in broken glass.
Montreal police say they have arrested a man and the hate crimes unit is investigating.
Police spokeswoman Sabrina Gauthier says it is too early to say whether the vandalism was motivated by hate and cannot confirm the suspect’s age or what charges he could face.
Omar Messioun, a member of Montréal-Nord borough mosque, says it is the first time the house of worship has been attacked and worshippers are in shock.
Although no one was injured, the psychological toll is immense and scaring worshippers away, he told CBC.
Condemning the act of vandalism, city Coun. Abdelhaq Sari published photos on social media that showed the mosque’s shattered front windows.
Another photo taken from inside showed a rock or chunk of concrete on the mosque’s carpet, surrounded by shards of broken glass.
Haroun Bouazzi, the Québec Solidaire MNA for Maurice-Richard, said the damage could have been much worse.
“That’s where normally people pray,” said Bouazzi. “If the same incident happened one day before — during the Friday prayer — obviously someone or a couple of people could have got hurt badly.”
Bouazzi says it’s not the first incident of its kind in the neighbourhood and that another nearby mosque was hit by a large rock earlier this month.
“The police often don’t take this seriously enough,” he said.
Beyond the incidents this month, Bouazzi says public discourse in Quebec seems to portray those practising the Muslim faith as a problem. He mentioned the current debate about the use of prayer rooms for Muslims students in schools.
“I think the public debate is not free from blame, and it’s not just isolated cases that are here again and again,” Bouazzi said. “It’s part of a bigger picture. Politicians have a big [role] to actually either create it or fix it.”
The MNA says Muslim community has been rattled since the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting that left six men dead — and before then, the Parti Québécois’ proposed charter of values in 2013.
The Canadian Muslim Forum issued a statement condemning the vandalism and expressing concern over acts of aggression against Muslim institutions.
Source: cbc.ca
