National Post (National Edition)
‘We will still pray, even with blood on the floor’
Members return to mosque days after atrocity
QUEBEC • Members of Quebec City’s Muslim community walked over thick crusts of blood dried into their mosque’s prayer carpets on Wednesday as they returned to the scene of Sunday’s carnage where six men were shot to death.
Blood was everywhere: on the prayer carpets, the walls, the tables and in footprints leading to the basement where people took refuge from the shooter.
The Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec opened its doors “to show all Canadians what happened,” said worshipper Ahmed El Refai.
He pointed to several spots of blood across the room and said that was where his friends were hit.
“Someone was shot under the mic,” he said, pointing to a dried pool of blood near a prayer carpet at the front of the room.
“This is very emotional for me,” he continued. “I cannot describe that, because these were my friends, my brothers who were killed here.”
The rooms will be renovated and the walls repainted before people start coming back to pray, “to take these memories out of our heads,” he said.
Rachid Aouane said he and his friends were mingling after prayers and he witnessed the entire scene. “I saw the shooter in this corner; he shot a brother here,” he said pointing to a spot of blood on the floor.
“There was somebody dead here, look, his head was right there, somebody dead here and another brother died in this corner here. His eight-year-old daughter was there and saw everything.”
At that point, Aouane said, his brother-in-law Azzedine Soufiane tried to disarm the shooter, failed and was shot. “It was courageous.”
El Refai said despite the stains and bullet holes in the windows and walls, three men returned to the mosque Wednesday morning to kneel for prayers.
He said Muslims in Quebec City want the mosque to reopen as soon as possible: “The message is that we will still pray, even with blood on the floor.”
Mosque vice-president Mohamed Labidi said he wanted to open the centre to the public so people could see what worshippers had to suffer.
Six men aged between 39 and 60 were killed in the attack while 19 were wounded, five critically.
Ahmed El-Ghandouri wiped away tears as he spoke about knowing the victim Soufiane for 35 years and helping him start his grocery store.
“This is my second home,” he said. “But we have to return here. We don’t have the choice. We have to clean, put it back in order. And we welcome people to come and see what Islam is really about.”
People walked in and out of the mosque throughout the morning, with one Quebec City resident stopping by to give administrators a cheque of an unspecified amount.
“We made (the donation), my wife and I, to support the community. This is important for us, and we would like for everybody in Quebec to do the same thing,” said Normand Morneau.
Labidi responded: “It warms my heart. The amount doesn’t matter — it’s the gesture that counts.”
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said a funeral service will be held in that city on Thursday afternoon for three of the six victims.
Coderre tweeted Wednesday that a ceremony will be held at Maurice-Richard Arena for Hassane Abdelkrim, Khaled Belkacemi and Aboubaker Thabti. There will also be prayers for the three other victims at the Montreal funeral. A funeral will be held in Quebec City for the remaining three men.
All but one will be flown out of the country for burial. There is no Muslim cemetery in Quebec City.
The Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec also posted a three-minute video to Facebook early Wednesday morning showing the damage inside the mosque. The video depicts a man touring the centre’s prayer room and pointing out bullet holes in the walls and blood stains on the walls and carpeted floor.
Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five of attempted murder using a restricted firearm.
I SAW THE SHOOTER IN THIS CORNER; HE SHOT A BROTHER.