The smashing of a window at a newly opened Muslim community centre in Côte des Neiges last week should be treated as a hate crime, says Salam Elmanyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal.
The nighttime attack on Sept. 21 at the Tebah Centre on Van Horne Ave., just west of Côte des Neiges Rd., is serious because it comes on the heels of acts of vandalism against two Montreal-area mosques, Elmanyawi noted.
The attack happened as Muslims were celebrating Eid-al-Fitre festival, which marks the end of the month- long Ramadan period of fasting and prayer.
The centre, which opened in August, is used by area residents of North African origin. Nobody was in the building when the incident occurred.
According to Abdellatif Ezzouhairi, the centre’s president, police at first were reluctant to investigate and submit a report, saying it was not that serious. The rock was about 20 centimetres in diameter and there were no hate messages or graffiti. Officers finally came after “two or three calls,” Ezzouhairi said.
Commander Simonetta Barth of Station 26 explained that the level of urgency of the call is decided by 911 dispatchers. Since the call came hours after the incident happened, the incident was not given the highest urgency rating.
She also said this was the only incident of this kind over the past year that she could recall in the area.
But since there were two similar attacks reported in other parts of the island, officers will be instructed to pay more attention to mosques and community centres in Côte des Neiges, she said.
Window-smashing attacks occurred this summer at mosques in Dorval and on Gouin Blvd., Elmanyawi said.
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