Mosque in north Minneapolis vandalized with hate speech
A mosque and a Muslim-owned business have been vandalized in what's being condemned as a hate crime.
The graffiti, which is Islamophobic in nature, was discovered at the Masjid Al-Nur mosque in north Minneapolis on Thursday, triggering a police investigation.
On Friday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison tweeted his reaction to the vandalization, noting that Masjid Al-Nur is the mosque he attends for worship services:
"This behavior is intended to intimidate," Ellison, a former congressman and the first Muslim elected to Congress, said. "Well, we aren’t intimidated."
CAIR-MN, a Muslim civil rights group, have launched an online fundraiser to help the mosque pay for cleaning and painting. They're seeking $3,000; they've raised a little over half that as of this writing.
The business that was also targeted in the attack has not been identified.
This is the latest in a series of similar attacks on mosques in Minnesota, with at least one having made national news.
In June 2018, bacon was left outside a mosque in Rochester; the next month, vandals spray-painted "666" and "Jesus saves" on the outside of a mosque in Maplewood.
One of the more notorious incidents was the 2017 pipe bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, which resulted in hate crimes charges against three men from Illinois.
In 2018, hate crimes involving violence against individuals hit a 16-year high, according to data from the FBI.
