News East West
TORONTO: A mosque in Saguenay city in French-speaking Quebec province of Canada was vandalized and splattered with what seems to be pig’s blood over the weekend.
After the act of vandalism, miscreants sent a letter to the mosque and the local Radio-Canada station, saying, “This mosque has been baptized with fresh pig’s blood from Quebec.’’
The letter told Muslims to “assimilate or go home.’’
Police, who are treating the incident as `a heinous crime’, said they were checking whether the red liquid splattered on the mosque is pig’s blood.
Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay condemned the incident as an “isolated and stupid’’ act of intolerance.
He said his city welcomes diversity and “this isn’t the way to show we have an open mind.’’
Mosque head Moustafa Elayouby called it an individual act of hatred which “doesn’t even deserve a response.’’
Numbering over 240,000 as per the 2011 census, Muslims make up about 3.1 percent of Quebec’s population.
This incident in the French-speaking province of Canada comes at a time when the provincial government is in the midst of introducing what it calls a secular charter which will ban hijabs by Muslim women, turbans by Sikhs and other type of religious clothing in public places.
Many attribute the vandalism of the mosque to the prevailing climate of increasing intolerance triggered by the Quebec government’s decision to introduce the secular charter.
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