Several headstones at a cemetery in Evergreen Park were found desecrated with anti-Muslim graffiti this week, and Chicago's Muslim community is shocked.

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago reported Friday morning that the graffiti had been scrawled on several graves at the Evergreen Cemetery, at 3401 W. 87th St. in Evergreen Park.

The group says a Palestinian-American man went to pay respects to his deceased father at the cemetery, and was horrified to see several Muslim graves desecrated.

"The Southwest Side has been home to a large Muslim and Arab American population for over 30 years; it is shocking to find such hatred, especially at a cemetery", council associate director Ahlam Jbara said in a news release.

The council posted photos of the graffiti on its Web site. Family markers were desecrated with ethnic slurs directed at Muslims and words that insulted the prophet Muhammad.

Some of the graffiti was also accompanied by gang symbols, including the six-pointed star and pitchforks of the Folk Nation – an alliance of several gangs – and a message reading, "Folks bitch."

Evergreen Park police said they had "no information" on whether there would be extra patrols following the incident.

The council pointed out that this latest incident comes on the heels of two attacks or acts of vandalism directed at Muslim institutions.

This past Sunday night, the College Preparatory School of America, an Islamic school at 331 W. Madison St. in Lombard, was subjected to vandalism. The council says someone hurled a 7-Up bottle filled with acid and other unspecified materials at the school during the nighttime Ramadan prayers.

During the prayer session, worshipers heard a loud bang and went to find an empty bottle thrown on the window of the school. No one was injured. And a week ago, air rifle shots were fired at a mosque in north suburban Morton Grove.

In response to the incidents, the council is planning a flash mob action against hate and Islamophobia at 5 p.m. Friday, at Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway.

CBS Chicago, 17 August 2012

See also "Hate graffiti sprayed on Muslim graves in Illinois", CAIR press release, 17 August 2012

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Members of a suburban mosque say someone took several shots with an air rifle last night at the building's outer wall in Morton Grove.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, two air rifle shots were fired at the outer brick wall of the Muslim Education Center mosque, 8613 Menard Ave., damaging it. 

A guard was working security at the center, where services were underway for Ramadan, when he heard a projectile hit the outside wall of the building at 9:20 p.m., said Morton Grove police Chief Mark Erickson.

No one was hurt and no one inside the center was near a window when the pellet-gun shooting happened, said the chief. "He was walking around outside and he heard this bang and he notified the police," Erickson said of the guard.

When officers got there, the guard told police that windows at the center have been damaged in the past, but "a number of them" were never reported to authorities.

"Due to the sensitive nature of the incident and with the previous criminal damage there, we contacted the Cook County state’s attorney's office," the chief said.

"This is obviously an alarming situation that all parties are taking very seriously," said CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab in the statement. According to Rehab, the projectiles reportedly came within inches of the head of the security guard on duty.

Chicago Tribune, 11 August 2012

See also CAIR press release, 11 August 2012

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