Police in Canada’s Mississauga Continue Investigating Mosque Vandalism
Peel Regional Police say they received reports of damage caused to an Islamic Centre in the area of Montevideo Road just after 1 a.m. on Aug. 15.
Const. Tyler Bell-Morena, spokesperson for Peel police, said the incident is being investigated by the hate crime unit, but it's too early to say if it's hate motivated.
"Because it's an Islamic center, because of the sensitive nature of that location, this is a place of worship, it's a place where people from the Islamic community gather, of course we're considering that this may be hate motivated," he told CBC Toronto on Friday.
Video surveillance footage seen by CBC shows a man breaking the glass doors of the front of the Ar-Rehman Islamic Centre with what seems to be a longboard or a skateboard.
The suspect then did the same thing to the Islamic relief center, ICNA Relief Canada, next door before walking off.
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Fortunately the person did not gain access to the establishments and no injuries were reported, said Bell-Morena.
Police have not identified the suspect by name yet, but they are working with community members in the area who have indicated that they have seen this person before, Bell-Morena said.
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He said that although the hate crime unit is investigating, the suspect is being sought for mischief.
"It's important that we do an investigation because not all things that happen at religious institutions are hate motivated, and sometimes they are. That's to basically say all hate incidents are crimes, but not all crimes are hate motivated," said Bell-Morena.
Community is shaken
Some in the community are scared, said Minhaj Qureshi, chairperson with ICNA Canada Mississauga.
"There's fear among them. They are asking the question whether we are safe here or not," Qureshi told CBC on Friday.
Qureshi said he believes the incident was hate motivated and is calling out the police for not releasing more information on the investigation.
"What are they [police] doing? So far we have no information about whether the person was arrested or not," said Qureshi. "We want justice. We want equality. That's what we are demanding, we are not demanding anything else."
He said he also wants to understand why police haven't released a photo or video of the suspect yet.
"Twelve days have passed, but so far they have not released that picture," said Qureshi.
Bell-Morena said the reason why police haven't put out any information on the investigation is because investigators believe there are no threats to the public.
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"If this was an outward attack towards an individual, we would have a much more accelerated approach in terms of appealing to the public," said Bell-Morena.
"Investigators want to find this guy and they're right now pursuing some investigative leads and they sometimes have to weigh the balance of holding on to information before they put it out publicly because sometimes that can hinder their approach and what they have planned."
Source: cbc.ca
