New York, U.S.A. — The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate uncooked bacon scattered at the site of a planned prayer in Staten Island marking the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan as a possible hate crime.

CAIR-NY also asked political candidates seeking office in the November elections to stop promoting and exploiting anti-Muslim prejudice and urged all elected officials to repudiate growing anti-Muslim hate.

According to the organizers of the Sunday prayer service, the bacon was apparently used to desecrate the prayer site at Staten Island’s New Dorp Beach park. They discovered the bacon Sunday morning as they arrived at the site. (Muslims are prohibited from eating pork products and anti-Muslim bigots often use the animal as a means to taunt or offend Muslims, such as in a similar incident recently targeting a California mosque.)

The planned site for the prayer service was made public in local news media the night before.

Comments on a Staten Island Advance online article covering the Muslim holiday, by a person identified as “midland007,” stated: (Spelling and grammatical errors maintained.)

“I am going to walk my pet pig and i am gonna let him take a nice fat dump in the field ….just in time for morning prayers (:” And: “They should send in a assault team and rid Staten island of all the muslim terrorists”

The Muslim community in America celebrated the end of Ramadan with communal Eid ul-Fitr prayers around the country on Sunday 19th. Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other pleasures from sunrise to sunset.

On Friday, CAIR said that in light of recent hate incidents targeting American Muslims, it was asking mosques and Islamic institutions nationwide to step up security for the end-of-Ramadan prayers. In its advisory, CAIR noted that in the past few days alone, hate incidents in Illinois included desecration of Muslim graves, a shooting at a mosque in Morton Grove and an acid bomb thrown at an Islamic school in Lombard.

In other states, a mosque was burned to the ground in Joplin, Mo., vandals sprayed an Oklahoma mosque with paintballs, pigs legs were thrown at a mosque-site in California, and a firebomb was thrown at a Muslim family’s home in Panama City, Fla.

“These incidents are not a coincidence. We believe the recent surge in acts of bigotry and hatred is directly linked to the words of elected officials and those running for office who have used anti-Muslim bigotry as a campaign strategy,” said CAIR-NY Executive Director Muneer Awad.

He said Rep. Bob Turner, New York State Senator David Storobin and Assembly candidate Ben Askelrod, among others, have expressed public opposition to Muslim houses of worship being built in New York.

Image Courtesy of  aclu.socal

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Los Angeles, U.S.A. — The Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA) chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urging it to investigate an incident targeting Muslims as a federal hate crime.

CAIR-LA said three pig legs were left at the planned mosque site of Al-Nur Islamic Center in Ontario, California. Worshipers told CAIR-LA that the pig legs were thrown on the site’s driveways just before 10 p.m. on August 7 by two women who then drove off in a white pick-up truck. A security guard witnessed the incident and a report has been filed with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The congregation has faced vocal opposition in the past.

“We urge the DOJ to investigate possible federal charges for the perpetrators of this disturbing incident,” said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. “Only firm action by local, state and federal law enforcement authorities will send the message that bias-motivated attacks on Muslims, or Americans of any faith, will not be tolerated.”

Ayloush also noted that four teenagers were arrested following an incident on August 4 in which the American Muslim Association in Hayward, Calififornia, was pelted with oranges and lemons as worshipers prayed inside. At least one worshiper was hit by the objects. A mosque official reported that August 4 harassment was the fourth such incident in the recent past.

A few days ago, CAIR’s national headquarters issued a community safety advisory for American mosques following other incidents targeting mosques in Missouri and Rhode Island and after the deadly shooting attack Sunday on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

A CAIR team on August 8 visited the site of the burned Missouri mosque to meet with Muslim leaders and law enforcement officials. The team also took part in an interfaith Ramadan fast-breaking meal (iftar) at a local church on Wednesday evening.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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