Guelph police have their hate crimes unit investigating after racial graffiti was discovered on a mosque.

Numerous spray-painted graffiti markings were discovered on the outside of the Guelph Muslim Society's mosque at 286 Water Street early Wednesday. The graffiti was painted between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday. It contained derogatory references to Muslims along with inflammatory and threatening language.

"There are some comments specifically about the faith, about the religion," said Guelph Muslim Society president Muhammed Sayyed. "It's not something like a random act."

Police say the incident goes beyond simple mischief, which is why a specialized unit was brought in to investigate. "Due to … the type of information that was put on those walls, we're moving it upstairs to our hate crimes unit," said Const. Mike Gatto.

Sayyed says much of the vandalism was quickly cleaned up because the society doesn't want people, especially children, to have to look at it.

A security camera outside the mosque was able to capture two suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-824-1212.

CTV, 7 March 2013

See also The Loop, 7 March 2013

And CAIR-CAN press release, 7 March 2013

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The Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France reports that there has been yet another fascist graffiti attack on a French mosque, this time at Provins in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. On Saturday morning worshippers found six red swastikas sprayed on the walls and doors of the building. The CCIF points out that this follows a similar attack only a week ago at Ozoir-La-Ferrière.

French interior minister Manuel Valls has issued a statement condemning the incident and declaring his support for the Muslim community, but the CCIF dismisses this as just words, when what is needed is action. They add that Valls himself, with his expulsion of preachers, his talk of the Republic's "essential struggle" against the veil, and his treatment of French Muslims as the enemy within, has helped to legitimise Islamophobic acts.

See also "Swastikas daubed on mosque in latest attack", The Local, 11 February 2013

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Montclair State University is investigating a bias incident in which someone drew a picture of planes hitting the World Trade Center on the door of a Muslim student group's headquarters, campus officials said today.

The graffiti was found Monday outside the Office of the Muslim Student Association in the student center, said Suzanne Bronski, a campus spokeswoman.

"The university police immediately launched a full investigation, which is continuing, and the university's Bias Response Team was appropriately alerted and has been involved," university officials said in a statement.

NJ.com, 8 February 2013

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Vandals have targeted a French mosque in a graffiti attack, tagging the worship centre with swastikas and anti-Islam slogans, officials said Sunday.

The attack was discovered by worshippers arriving for morning prayer at the mosque in Ozoir-La-Ferrière, a small town 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Paris.

Photographs of the mosque show at least two swastikas painted on the facade, as well as an explicit anti-Islam slogan and "Long Live Gaul," the ancient Roman-era name for France.

Police were investigating the incident.

In the eastern city of Besançon, two mosques were also vandalised, where the Star of David had been painted on the walls.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls condemned the attacks "with the utmost severity" and called them "foul and hateful."

According to statistics from an Islamic monitoring organisation, 201 anti-Islam attacks were recorded in France last year, up 28 percent on 2011.

AFP, 3 February 2013

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Two women have been charged after graffiti was sprayed near a mosque in Woking.

The two 19-year-olds, from Woking and Addlestone, are accused of five counts of racially aggravated criminal damage and four offences of criminal damage.

It follows incidents last November when graffiti was sprayed in a shop, on a wall outside the Shah Jehan Mosque and outside residential properties.

Surrey Police said the pair were due to appear before magistrates in February.

BBC News, 26 January 2013

See also "Two charged with racially aggravated criminal damage", Surrey Police news report, 25 January 2013

Via ENGAGE

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A mosque at Val-de-Reuil in Normandy in north-western France was sprayed with far-right graffiti last Wednesday night. Slogans included "Anti-Islam", "Long live the FN" and "France, love it or leave it". As the Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France points out, these days every week brings new acts of Islamophobic vandalism.

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The Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France reports that on Thursday-Friday night four swastikas along with racist slogans riddled with misspellings were sprayed on the wall of the As-Salam de Tomblaine mosque in the Lorraine region of north-east France. (The slogan "Bougnoulle de mourt" would appear to mean something like "death to wogs".)

The CCIF notes that only a few months ago the mosque at Vandœuvre, five kilometres from Tomblaine, was also the target of a graffiti attack, although in that case the graffiti were of Kahanist rather than Nazi inspiration.

See also ICI-C-NANCY, 21 December 2012

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On Tuesday 11 December six swastikas were found on the walls of the mosque in the Penhars neighbourhood of Quimper, in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-west France, the Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France reports.

The CCIF points out that this is not the first time that the mosque has suffered such acts of vandalism. In September 2006 similar graffiti were found, and the mosque was the victim of an attempted arson attack.

See also Ouest-France, 13 December 2012

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To their bewilderment and bitterness, on the morning of Saturday, November 24, Muslim worshippers at Villefontaine in northern Isère discovered racist graffiti on the walls of their mosque.

When they arrived at the mosque for their morning prayer, the Muslim faithful of Villefontaine found that the walls of their religious enclosure were covered with graffiti. The clearly Islamic slogans "Islam out of Europe" and "This is our home" had been written in black spray paint.

The public prosecutor in Vienne has just ordered an inquiry to be opened into criminal damage aggravated by its anti-Muslim character. This was assigned to the police force at Bourgoin-Jallieu.

In parallel, other slogans were discovered on the walls of the Sainte Marie Catholic boarding school, opposite the train station at Verpillière. These similarly involved Celtic crosses, which are often used by far-right movements.

France 3, 24 November 2012

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) has issued a statement condemning the attack. Pointing out that this is just the latest in a long list of such attacks that have taken place since the beginning of 2012, the CFCM calls on the government to devote more resources to finding the perpetrators.

AFP reports that on Sunday afternoon some 300 people gathered in front of the Villefontaine mosque to express their support for the Muslim community. They included representatives of other faiths and political leaders. In his speech the rector of the Lyon Mosque, Kamel Kabtane, repeated the call made by the CFCM for a parliamentary inquiry into the rise of anti-Muslim hatred in France.

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The leader of the English Defence League (EDL) in Bristol has been arrested in connection with graffiti sprayed on mosques and Sikh temples.

Mickey Bayliss, from Upton Cheyney near Bitton, was arrested on Wednesday, along with another man.

The two had their properties searched but were not charged and have been released on bail.

The arrests were made in connection with two incidents of criminal damage on mosques and a Sikh temple on Valley Road, Bedminster, and Church Road, Redfield, between September 21 and September 25. It is believed that the word "EDL" was dubbed in red graffiti on the properties on Church Road and grey graffiti on Valley Road.

Police spokeswoman Catherine Foster said: "A 47-year-old man has been arrested under suspicion of criminal damage. He has been bailed until January 22. There were three incidents of criminal damage, two on Valley Road and one on Church Road."

She added: "A 36-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the same investigation."

Bristol Post, 19 November 2012

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A 19-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage after abusive words were spray painted in view of a mosque.

Surrey Police said the graffiti was sprayed inside a shop on the Lion Retail Park, Woking, in view of the Shah Jehan Mosque in Oriental Road. The words were sprayed between 19:00 and 20:00 GMT on Monday.

The teenager, from Woking, has been released on bail until 13 December pending further inquiries.

BBC News, 15 November 2012

See also The Missing List, 15 November 2012

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France 3 reports that on Sunday morning a family at Pont-du-Château in Auvergne in central France found the walls of their house covered in Nazi graffiti. Of Algerian origin, the family has lived in the area for fifteen years.

An unpleasant suprise awaited the Charef family when they woke up on Sunday morning. They found Nazi graffiti on the walls of their house at Pont-du-Château, in the Puy-de-Dôme department. Swastikas and Celtic crosses had been drawn on the wall. These are signs regularly used by far-right and Islamophobic groups.

Settled in Auvergne for almost 30 years, Bouzid Charef is a biologist at the National Institute for Agricultural Research. On Monday morning he was still in shock and immediately registered a complaint. The Pont-du-Château police have taken up the case and are following all leads.

Signs recalling Nazi ideology are an aggravating factor in the offence of criminal damage and those responsible face up to two years in prison.

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The Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France reports that last night vandals sprayed Nazi graffiti on a halal butcher's shop in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in north-central France. The CCIF notes that last year the municipal council broke off negotiations over the sale of public land to an association that planned to build an Islamic cultural centre there, following an Islamophobic campaign.

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The Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France reports that last Thursday night a halal butchers at Chalon-sur-Saône in eastern France was defaced with Islamophobic graffiti. When the owners went to the police to file a complaint on Friday morning they found that other businesses had been similarly targeted.

See also Al-Kanz, 29 September 2012

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The Collectif contre L'islamophobie en France reports a graffiti attack on a mosque at Vandœuvre in north-eastern France. The word "Israel" in Hebrew has been sprayed onto the doors along with a Star of David and "LDJ" – the initials of the Ligue de défense juive (Jewish Defence League), the extreme right-wing Kahanist movement whose UK section is headed by former EDL Jewish Division leader Roberta Moore. No doubt this act of desecration would meet with her enthusiastic approval.

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The Collectif contre L'Islamophobie en France has reported that a swastika and Celtic cross were sprayed on the entrance to a mosque at Agen, in southwestern France, last week.

CcIF notes that gunshots were fired at the same mosque in 2005 and that last year a mosque in nearby Villeneuve-sur-Lot was the target of an arson attack. In 2010 a mosque at Marmande, also in southwestern France, was sprayed with fascist graffiti.

See also La Dépêche and Europe 1.

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A rental vehicle driven by a group of young Muslim men – at least two of whom live in Redmond – was the target of racist graffiti during a recent vacation near Lake Chelan.

According to a news release from the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR), the vehicle was scrawled with racist phrases including "Sand N**gers" and "Doon Coons." The vandals also left several physical scratches on the car.

CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari said all of the eight individuals are college students and friends and that most attend services at the MAPS center in Redmond. Some of those who were targeted attend Bellevue College and UW.

The Muslims believe they may have been targeted because of a group prayer they offered in a public area while one of the vacationers was wearing a head covering called a kufi.

Redmond Patch, 6 September 2012

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Racist graffiti was found on Wednesday 23 May on the wall of a Muslim place of worship in Strasbourg, which the mayor had made available to the Muslim community in 2009 to build a small mosque in the neighbourhood.

The graffiti included swastikas and the slogans "dirty Arab", "Islam out", "no mosque", and "Ries collaborator", a reference to the Socialist mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries.

"We condemn these unspeakable acts, like any act of racism, antisemitism or Islamophobia", said deputy mayor Olivier Bitz, who expressed his "solidarity" with Strasbourg's Muslims.

The president of the association that manages the place of worship has decided to press charges and an investigation has been launched by the police.

This mosque is the third in less than a week to have been covered with Islamophobic graffiti following similar attacks on mosques in Draguignan and Tarascon.

Saphir News, 23 May 2012

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