Toronto mosque vandalized after terrorism arrests

Vandals smashed 30 windows of a Toronto mosque and damaged nearby cars after the arrest of seventeen suspected al-Qaeda sympathizers accused of planning bomb attacks. Canadian Muslims expressed fear on Sunday that a backlash had begun.

The vandals struck overnight at the west-end mosque, a police official said on Sunday. A second official said he had no information on any link between the incident and the arrests, which began late Friday.

“The actual weapon that was used to break [the windows] is unknown,” said secretary Ameer Ali of the International Muslims Organization of Toronto, which houses the mosque. “We believe it has to be a heavy instrument, possibly a sledgehammer or a pick ax, or it could even be a crowbar.”

That’s a shame that someone would vandalize a mosque. It’s not as if all Muslims are bad and violent. (Besides, whatever happened to freedom of religion?) Vandalizing a religious building because some of the people practicing the religion promoted there are violent makes about as much sense as assaulting a black man because another black man attacked you three months ago.

If someone vandalized a church, I would be equally upset. Yes, I am a Christian, but that isn’t the only reason why I’d be upset. The other reason is that the church is private property (the property of the people who run the church), and property should not be vandalized unless permission is given—which would be rather odd.

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