CAIR-MI reports that officials of the Islamic Center of East Lansing say vandals left a burned Qur’an at the front entrance of the mosque and threw pages from holy text in the streets surrounding the center. Torn pages of the Qur’an appeared to be smeared with feces. An unidentified substance was also found on the floor in front of the mosque's main door. CAIR-MI has contacted the FBI about the incident.
"The perpetrators of this unconscionable act of religious intimidation must be apprehended and prosecuted to the full extent of state and federal law," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
Also on Saturday, CAIR called for federal hate crime charges to be brought against three men who allegedly painted a racist slur on a mosque in New York.
Authorities say the men painted the slur "sand n**gers" and an obscenity on the back wall of the Hudson Islamic Center just after midnight Wednesday. They have been charged with aggravated harassment, conspiracy, making graffiti, and criminal mischief.
Earlier this week, CAIR called on the FBI to investigate a possible bias motive for recent vandalism at a Phoenix mosque site.
Mosques in California, Tennessee, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Texas, and Florida have faced vocal opposition or have been targeted by hate incidents in recent months.
