Peterborough churches open doors to Muslims after ‘cowardly’ attack
Web campaign raises $88,000 to repair bombed mosque
Peterborough police call the firebombing of the city’s only mosque a hate crime, while local residents managed to quickly raise enough money to repair the house of worship.
Meanwhile in Kitchener, Ont., police are investigating vandalism at a Hindu temple. Ram Dham Hindu Temple president Dilip Dav says several windows at the rear entrance of the temple were shattered late Sunday night. He says no one inside the temple was injured, and no one saw who did the damage.
The incident follows the arson attack on the Masjid Al-Salaam, which means Mosque of Peace, in Peterborough on Saturday night.
Investigators say they haven’t drawn any link between these attacks and Friday’s attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people.
Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett called the Masjid Al-Salaam arson attack a “cowardly act” and says his church and several others are offering prayer space for displaced local Muslims until the building is restored.
He noted the overwhelming success of a crowd-funding campaign to pay for repairs to the Peterborough mosque. The online campaign has raised more than $88,000 in pledges for repairs to the Peterborough mosque.
“I think it speaks volumes of how the people in the community feel toward this cowardly act,” Bennett said in an interview.
Peterborough police Insp. Larry Charmley said investigators are getting lots of co-operation from area residents and other police forces.
“At this time, we are treating it as a hate crime,” Charmley told a news conference on Monday.
Area Muslim leaders praised the community and police, despite the attack on their place of worship.
“The incident has shocked all of us because, as the mayor said, it’s out of character for Peterborough,” Kenzu Abdella, president of the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association, said at a press conference on Monday.
Damage to the mosque has been estimated at $80,000, an amount surpassed by Monday afternoon on the crowd-funding website FundRazr. “We encourage members of the community, of all or no faiths, to help the Muslim community restore their place of worship,” the FundRazr site states.