AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): In a statement, local police said the 24-year-old man, who was arrested, entered the mosque in Mississauga, Ontario, eastern Canada, and sprayed worshipers with burning spray before they took control of it.
She explained that worshipers sustained minor injuries from the incendiary spray designed to repel bear attacks.
The police assessed that the attack was an “individual act”, noting at the same time that it could be an “anti-Islam act.”
For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the “deeply disturbing” attack on Twitter, and said, “I strongly condemn this violence that has no place in Canada,” praising the “courage” of those at the mosque.
Several politicians, including the mayor of Toronto and the premier of the province, also condemned the attack on a place of worship.
The imam of the mosque praised, on social media, the reaction of the worshipers. “Before the worshipers were harmed, many worshipers bravely succeeded in arresting him,” Ibrahim Hindi said.
“Our community will never be broken and we refuse to be intimidated,” the imam Ibrahim Hindy tweeted, praising worshippers who subdued the alleged attacker.
For the past two decades, Muslim Canadians have faced daily adversity while also witnessing more violent acts of Islamophobia. Muslim Canadians report being harassed and subjected to microaggressions on a regular basis at work, school, and in public places. Mosques and community centers have been attacked violently and many of them now require security.
In June in Ontario, a man driving a pick-up truck deliberately ran over a Canadian family of Pakistani origin, killing four people. Police said it was a case of Islamophobia.
In 2017, six worshippers were also shot dead and a dozen more were injured after a gunman opened fire on worshippers at a mosque in Quebec.
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She explained that worshipers sustained minor injuries from the incendiary spray designed to repel bear attacks.
The police assessed that the attack was an “individual act”, noting at the same time that it could be an “anti-Islam act.”
For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the “deeply disturbing” attack on Twitter, and said, “I strongly condemn this violence that has no place in Canada,” praising the “courage” of those at the mosque.
Several politicians, including the mayor of Toronto and the premier of the province, also condemned the attack on a place of worship.
The imam of the mosque praised, on social media, the reaction of the worshipers. “Before the worshipers were harmed, many worshipers bravely succeeded in arresting him,” Ibrahim Hindi said.