Broken glass, damaged doors, and bent donation boxes were part of the damages Muslim worshippers discovered on Monday morning in their local mosque, in a hate crime condemned by Minnesota governor.
“This weekend, Tawfiq Islamic Center in Minneapolis was badly damaged and thousands of dollars in donations were stolen,” Gov. Tim Walz tweeted.
“While this vandalism was meant to divide our communities, Minnesotans stand firm in our commitment to support our Muslim neighbors. Hate has no home here.”
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The attack occurred late Sunday when a man broke into Tawfiq Islamic Center at 2400 Minnehaha Avenue and was “rooted” in Islamophobia, according to an email Tuesday from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, Star Tribune reported.
“Minnesota’s Muslim community is facing unprecedented amount of attacks against our mosques,” said Council on American-Islamic Relations-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein during a news conference Tuesday.
“This latest attack is the fourth of such incidents involving a mosque in the state of Minnesota.”
The attacker, a white man caught on cameras, entered the mosque through the back gym door around and broke into several rooms throughout the center. CAIR-MN estimates over $50,000 will be needed to repair the damages at the mosque.
Burglary?
Minneapolis police have not located any suspects, saying preliminary information suggests the motive was theft, while officials offered a $1,000 reward for information about the suspect.
The community expressed concern, leading to a visit from the city’s top cop. They report this is the fourth significant incident at a Minnesota mosque since the start of the year.
“Although many of the motives are different, the result is all the same, which it leaves communities damaged, lose their sense of safety, terrorized,” Abdulahi Farah with Muslim Coalition said.
A report published by CAIR titled “Targeted: 2018 Civil Rights Report” recorded 144 anti-mosque incidents in 2017, of which 57 were labeled hate crimes.
It’s noteworthy that many local communities have always come in support of the Muslim community in many cases.
In 2021, members of the local community in Suffolk county in Brentwood, New York, came together in a show of support to the local mosque which was vandalized last month.