Police investigating anti-Muslim hate crimes in Alberta

By Eman Bare, Global News
September 16, 2014

EDMONTON — Police are investigating after a string of anti-Muslim incidents in Alberta in recent days.

A Fort Saskatchewan home that’s often used as a place of prayer for the community’s small Muslim population has been targeted twice. On Monday, eggs were thrown at the home, with anti-Islam insults written on the shells. A few days before that, on September 11, a large red cross was spray painted on the front of the home…

The two cases of vandalism are among three anti-Muslim incidents in Alberta in less than a week. In Calgary, prominent imam Syed Soharwardy was almost hit by a car while walking to his mosque last week…

. . .

Amy Awad from the National Council of Canadian Muslims believes that the spike is linked to recent violence in the Middle East at the hands of ISIS.

“The fact there is so much media attention for what’s occurring in Iraq and Syria, the fact there are a number of armed groups claiming to represent Islam and Muslims, raises the profile and increases suspicion that people might have here about their Muslim neighbours.”

According to Awad, almost 90 per cent of hate crimes go unreported, meaning that that actual number of crimes is much higher than the reported amount.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1567343/police-investigating-anti-muslim-hate-crimes-in-fort-saskatchewan/