A civil rights advocacy group has urged the federal Justice Department to investigate who is responsible for leaving pig feet at the site of a planned mosque in Ontario.
In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday, the Greater Los Angeles Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations urged the government to probe the incident as a hate crime.
Three pig legs were left at the future site of the Al-Nur Islamic Center.
Worshippers told CAIR-LA that the pig feet were thrown on the site’s driveways just before 10 p.m. Tuesday by two women who then drove off in a white pick-up truck.
A security guard witnessed the incident and a report has been filed with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
“We urge the DOJ to investigate possible federal charges for the perpetrators of this disturbing incident,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement. “Only firm action by local, state and federal law enforcement authorities will send the message that bias-motivated attacks on Muslims, or Americans of any faith, will not be tolerated.”
Ayloush said four teenagers were arrested following an incident Saturday in which the American Muslim Association in Hayward, Calif., was pelted with oranges and lemons as worshipers prayed inside.
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At least one worshiper was hit by the objects. A mosque official reported that Saturday’s harassment was the fourth such incident in the recent past.
Earlier this week, CAIR’s national headquarters issued a community safety advisory for American mosques following other incidents targeting mosques in Missouri and Rhode Island and after the deadly shooting attack Sunday on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
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