Bomb threats won’t scare Concordia’s Muslim students

KATHERINE WILTON

Hundreds of Concordia University students returned to the Hall building to write midterm exams Wednesday night, with many saying they were surprised by threats against Muslim students but were unafraid to return to school.

“There is no reason to panic,” said one Muslim student who didn’t want his name published. Another Muslim student called the threats “a fake hoax,” but added that he had received a message from his teacher saying an exam would be rescheduled because some Muslim students are nervous about returning to school.

Several buildings at the university’s downtown campus were evacuated Wednesday afternoon after a letter was sent to media outlets threatening to set off bombs targeting Muslim students. Police searched the buildings for explosives, but found nothing.

The letter, sent by a group calling itself the Council of Conservative Citizens of Canada, complained about Muslim prayers on campus and men washing their feet in sinks at the Hall building. It went on to say that bombs would be detonated every day from Wednesday to Friday unless Concordia bans what the letter referred to as “Moslem (sic) activities.”

After the Hall building reopened at 6 p.m., Wadii Bouzemmi tried to enter the Muslim prayer room on the seventh floor for evening prayers but was told by a security guard “that no one was allowed on the seventh floor.”

Bouzemmi said he was shaken by the bomb threats, partly because he used to study at Université Laval and knew some of the people killed in the recent attack on the mosque in Quebec City. “I hope they will have more security when I come to pray,” said Bouzemmi, who is studying for a master’s degree.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA Quebec) and other Jewish groups in Montreal issued a joint statement condemning the bomb threat.

“The wounds of Quebec City have yet to be healed and this morning’s threat reminds us that the pathology of hate persists,” stated Rabbi Reuben Poupko, cochair of CIJA Quebec. “Threats of violence from any quarter against any group need to be taken with the utmost seriousness and must be rejected in the strongest terms possible.”

The wounds of Quebec City have yet to be healed and this morning’s threat reminds us that the pathology of hate persists.