EDL News reports that an English Defence League member named Diane Scrimshaw – one of the few in Essex who has remained loyal to the EDL leadership – has been boasting on Facebook about the damage she caused to a property in Westcliff-on-Sea owned by the Jaafriya Islamic Welfare Centre.

(The building has allegedly been used as a mosque without planning permission, and has already been the target of protests by both the British National Party and Britain First.)

First Scrimshaw appealed to her "edl friends" to inbox her as she had "something planned" for later in the week. She followed this up by posting a photograph of a flattened wall outside the Jaafriya Centre's building and added: "We went down Southend illegal mosque (just a shame the wall fell down PMSL)."

One of her Facebook friends commented "Vandal!", to which Scrimshaw replied: "I admit it Richard lol."

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A message of hate was spray-painted on a Suffolk County mosque and now police are searching for the vandals.

The angry words on the Bay Shore mosque threatened a rising war. It's believed that someone came over the fence and vandalized the building, police said.

The imam at Masjid Darul Quran Mosque showed CBS 2's Lou Young the now white-washed spots where the messages were found. A pair of spray-painted statements that were written apparently referred to the overseas violence against U.S. embassies and consulates by Muslim extremists. They appeared along with an ominous reference to rising war, but the messages were directed against neighbors worshiping peacefully.

Police called it a hate crime. "This is an attack on the community here in Suffolk County. It tears at the fabric of our community," said Suffolk County Police Lt. Stephen Hernandez

The overseas violence was condemned repeatedly from the pulpit at the Long Island mosque and the U.S. Libyan ambassador was mourned the very day he died. So the words especially hurt and the worshipers said they are worried it might not be an isolated incident.

"There are things happening all over the country. It is troubling to see this happening in America. The America that I love so much," said worshiper Mohammed Zainul.

The hurtful graffiti was painted last week. Friday morning someone came in the other side of the property to drape toilet paper over the imam's house. Members of the mosque said they believe the actions are part of a pattern.

"I feel scared they might hurt my brothers and all that," worshiper Mohammed Laiqat said. "I'm definitely worried about this." In 20 years of worship in the community, the worshipers said they have never before felt unsafe or targeted.

Police are offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals.

CBS New York, 22 September 2012

See also "CAIR asks FBI to probe hate vandalism of NY mosque", CAIR press release, 21 September 2012

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North Smithfield police have arrested and charged a Cumberland man in connection with a case of vandalism at a local mosque.

Robert Scalso, 20, of Mendon Rd. is facing a misdemeanor charge of vandalism, police confirmed Monday morning.

Police said Scalso destroyed the sign outside Masjiad Al-Islam mosque on Sayles Hill Rd. earlier this month.

The crime was caught on surveillance camera Aug. 5 around 3 a.m. A person could be seen driving into the mosque's parking lot and then smashing the sign with what appeared to be a hammer.

The crime happened the same day as a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, prompting mosque members to ask police and the FBI for additional protection.

They said they were concerned the vandalism might be part of a larger pattern against Muslims, or people perceived as Muslim.

North Smithfield police said the investigating is ongoing. Investigators have not released details on a possible motive.

WPRI, 20 August 2012

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Former soldier Simon Parkes stuck a pig's head to the gates of a Cheltenham mosque in an act of revenge.

Wearing a balaclava, the 45-year-old also sprayed an insult aimed at Muslims along Masjidul Falah Mosque in the High Street. He claimed he was angry after seeing extremists burning poppies in London during a Remembrance Sunday service.

Parkes, of Crown Close, Bishop's Cleeve, admitted causing religiously aggravated criminal damage and causing religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress when he appeared before Cheltenham magistrates. The crime was committed on November 13, 2010.

Parkes, who had served in Northern Ireland before being demobbed in 1993, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, his solicitor Andrew Twomlow said.

CCTV footage showed Parkes park a hired car in Granville Street before walking to the mosque with the pig's head and spray paint.

Sharon Jomaal, prosecuting, said: "He left a severed pig's head with Allah written along the side which was attached the front gate." She said he also wrote a racist slur in red spray paint along the front of the mosque. Parkes later posted a picture of himself at the scene on Facebook.

Magistrates committed the case to Crown Court for August 30. He was released on conditional bail.

Gloucestershire Echo, 10 August 2012

See also Stroud News & Journal, 10 August 2012

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Members of Rhode Island's Muslim community have asked to meet with police and the FBI to request heightened security at their places of worship after the sign for a mosque in North Smithfield was vandalized.

Farid Ansari, president of the Rhode Island Council for Muslim Advancement and an imam at the Muslim American Dawah Center of Rhode Island in Providence, said Tuesday they are concerned because of the fatal attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday and a suspicious fire at a mosque in Missouri on Monday.

"Hopefully, it's just a simple case of vandalism, but we can't be sure. Of particular concern is what happened within the Sikh community," Ansari said. "We can't just not pay attention to these types of things. We don't know if they are connected or not."

The incident at the Masjid Al-Islam happened early Sunday morning. Surveillance video showed a person walk up to the mosque's sign, struggle with it then knock down a large piece of it, put it into a car and drive away, said North Smithfield Police Capt. Tim Lafferty. The vandalism was first reported by The Providence Journal.

Lafferty said detectives are investigating it as vandalism, although he said it was too early to rule out a possible hate crime. He said the video is grainy and the person is difficult to identify. They also can't see the license plate. "We have no suspects. We just have the video," he said.

Lafferty said police have stepped up patrols around the mosque, including extra checks of the building.

Ansari said they had reached out to the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office and Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements to convene a meeting so they could to express their concerns and ask for heightened security.

Associated Press, 7 August 2012

See also "CAIR issues safety advisory after another mosque targeted", CAIR press release, 7 August 2012

And "North Smithfield police: We don't need FBI's help investigating vandalism of sign at mosque", Providence Journal, 7 August 2012

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A leading French Muslim group says three mosques have been vandalized over the past week and is urging authorities to punish the perpetrators.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith, or CFCM, said racist insults and Nazi slogans were scrawled on a mosque in the southeastern town of Tarascon and another in the eastern city of Strasbourg on Tuesday and Wednesday. It said the mosque in the southern town of Draguignan was vandalized May 17.

In a statement Thursday, the CFCM expressed concern about what it called the "multiplication of these cowardly and hateful acts" and warned against complacency. Muslim and Jewish graveyards and religious buildings around France have long suffered sporadic vandalism.

The group urged authorities to track down and punish those responsible "with all the necessary severity."

Associated Press, 24 May 2012

See also CFCM press release, 24 May 2012

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