Escalating signs of hate foreshadow shooting spree

Quebec city: Anti-Muslim posters, swastikas and a pig’s head left on a mosque doorstep last year were some of the escalating signs of hate that many believe foreshadowed Sunday’s deadly shooting in Quebec.

Mohamed Labidi, vice-president of the Islamic Cultural Centre and mosque targeted in the attack, came together with religious and political leaders on Monday to mourn the dead and stand united against hate.

His mosque was desecrated in June when a pig’s head was placed in a plastic bag and left at the entrance with a note that read: “bon appetit”, in an apparent provocation over the Islamic tradition of not eating pork.

That joined a list of slurs, from swastikas daubed on the walls to Islamophobic posters, that culminated with the weekend’s shooting that left six dead and eight wounded.

“All of this was a precursor to the attack,” Labidi said.

“We’ve felt the winds changing now for a long time, escalating,” agreed Mohamed Ali Saidane, a member of the mosque who lost a relative in the shooting.

Labidi’s voice broke as he described how a gunman reportedly grabbed people who were praying and pulled them up onto their feet before shooting them.

“Witnesses told us that this was done in front of children who screamed when they saw their parents being killed,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared the shooting “an act of terror committed against Canada and against all Canadians”, seeking to reassure the Muslim minority of the support of the wider population.

Quebec City’s mayor, Rejis Labeaume, had a similar message.

“It’s not only the Muslim community that has been affected. It is we, the citizens of Quebec who are all affected,” he said, his voice near breaking.

A longtime proponent of pluralism and one of the most welcoming nations in the world for immigrants, Canada was shocked by Sunday’s attack.

“Everyone has been a victim, everyone has been affected,” said Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

But for many of the country’s Muslims, the attack on the Quebec City mosque was just the latest in a rising tide of hate crimes directed towards members of their faith.

“With the killings, the massacres by the Islamic State in France ... it fuels Islamophobia around the world, including in Quebec,” Saidane said. — AFP