Before Sunday prayer service, raw bacon was discovered by a child at a local mosque.
“I always felt safe here. I always felt it was a comfortable place to go,” Adam Soltani, CAIR executive director, said.
On Sunday, vandals tossed bacon along the doorway of an Edmond mosque near the University of Central Oklahoma.
“Someone would have to know that according to the Islamic faith, pork is not allowed for Muslims to eat, so it sends a message that they know that and that they want to offend,” said Soltani.
Students are shocked to see this happen in their community.
“It’s really disgusting, actually. I just don’t understand why people would do that,” Erick Larson, a student at the University of Central Oklahoma, said.
“I think it’s ironic that it happened so close to when UCO had our Tunnel of Oppression, which actually addresses things like this,” Deshara Flemming, student at UCO, said.
“Whenever we see a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric and speech in a local community, it seems to be coupled with unfortunate incidents of hate crimes and vandalism,” Soltani said.
This isn’t the first time a mosque has been targeted in the metro. In 2012, vandals shot paint balls at the Grand Mosque of Oklahoma City.
In 2013, surveillance video was released showing a suspect painting racial slurs on the walls of another metro mosque. Both were investigated as hate crimes.
“I think with each incident, the concern grows even stronger,” Soltani said.
The mosque filed a police report with Edmond.
At the same time, CAIR has contacted the FBI in hopes they will investigate this latest incident.
The Edmond mosque plans on installing surveillance cameras.