Total damage is estimated at more than $80,000.
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Police have confirmed that a fire at a Peterborough, Ont., mosque was set deliberately. Congregants will likely pray in a United Church on Friday, said Abdella.
In Florida, two mosques received bomb threats by phone.
“We encourage members of the community, of all or no faiths, to help the Muslim community restore their place of worship”, he wrote.
Dr. Abedella says it’s hard not to think the alleged attack on their mosque isn’t related to the alleged terrorist attack in Paris earlier in the week which killed more than 100 people. “To us, this is out of nowhere”, Abdella said.
The statement denounced last week’s terror attacks in Paris as “a crime against all of humanity”, and said “In hard times like these, there are often isolated incidents perpetrated by individuals that seek to exploit global events and divide Canadians”.
“So it’s very positive in that way”, he said. It’s a big concern.
“These people haven’t done anything wrong”, said Forsey.
During the day, a school teaching Islam is run out of Al-Salaam.
“The Muslim community is active in the local community and has open houses on a regular basis”. There’s also a congregational prayer held at Al-Salaam every Friday.
“For Muslims, a mosque is very important”.
“The police will do their work to uncover what happened, but together we must do our work to ensure that such attacks are never tolerated”, she said.
Wynne says “it is nearly impossible not to react with anger and loathing at the cowardice of these attacks”, but while those emotions can be used to fuel the global response, they “should not be at the heart of the strategy”.
New Jersey State Police troopers on alert after the deadly Paris attacks greeted football fans at the Giants-Patriots game in East Rutherford.
New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “deeply disturbed” by the fire and promised to protect the rights of worshippers at the mosque and catch those responsible for the fire.
Donations can be dropped off at the St. John’s office. Call 705-745-7624 for more information.
However, Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett denounced the suspected hate crime on Twitter Sunday.
Larry Forsey, of nearby Coboconk, went out of his way to stop by the now-closed Masjid Al-Salaam, where he hugged Kenzu Abdella, the president of the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association, and handed him a few cash.
Maryam Monsef, the first Afghan-born MP and Liberal MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, said, “I know the residents of Peterborough-Kawartha will be as upset about this as I am”.
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A user who donated $1,000 commented: “I hope that this love and support demonstrates to you that the people who did this are not reflective of the community we all live in”.
