Muslim Holiday Site Desecrated with Pig Parts
PRESS RELEASE: Site of Muslim Prayer Service Desecrated With Pig Parts
CAIR-NY: Site of Muslim Eid Celebration Desecrated with Pig Parts
Muslims ask for hate crime investigation, ask elected officials to denounce growing Islamophobia
(NEW YORK, NY, 8/19/12) –- The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) announced today calls for state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate pig parts planted at the site of a planned Eid ul-Fitr (EED-al-FITTER) holiday prayer in Staten island marking the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan.
CAIR-NY also asked political candidates seeking office in the November elections to stop promoting and exploiting anti-Muslim prejudice and urged all elected officials to repudiate growing anti-Muslim hate.
According to the organizers of the Sunday prayer service, parts of a pig were used to desecrate the site at Staten Island's New Dorp Beach park. Worshipers discovered the parts Sunday morning as they arrived at the site. (NOTE: Muslims are prohibited from eating pork products and anti-Muslim bigots often use the animal as a means to taunt or offend Muslims, such as in a similar incident recently targeting a California mosque.)
Video: CAIR-LA Asks DOJ to Launch Probe of Pig Legs Left at Mosque Site
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJpS8OU07GQ
The planned site for the prayer service was made public in the local media the night before.
SEE: End of Ramadan Prayer at Staten Island New Dorp Beach
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/end_of_ramadan_prayer_event_on.html
The Muslim community in America celebrated the end of Ramadan with communal prayers around the country on Sunday. (Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other pleasures from sunrise to sunset.)
On Friday, CAIR said that in light of recent hate incidents targeting American Muslims, it was asking mosques and Islamic institutions nationwide to step up security for the end-of-Ramadan prayers. In its advisory, CAIR noted that in the past few days alone, violent incidents in Illinois included desecration of Muslim graves, a shooting at a mosque in Morton Grove and an acid bomb thrown at an Islamic school in Lombard. In other states, a mosque was burned to the ground in Joplin, Mo., vandals sprayed an Oklahoma mosque with paintballs, pigs legs were thrown at a mosque-site in California, and a firebomb was thrown at a Muslim family's home in Panama City, Fla.
SEE: CAIR Asks Mosques to Boost Security at End-of-Ramadan Prayers
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/17/4734985/cair-asks-mosques-to-boost-security.html
"These incidents are not a coincidence. We believe the recent surge in acts of bigotry and hatred is directly linked to the words of elected officials, and those running for office who have used anti-Muslim bigotry as a campaign strategy," said CAIR-NY Executive Director Muneer Awad.
He said Rep. Bob Turner, New York State Senator David Storobin and Assembly candidate Ben Askelrod, among others, have expressed public opposition to Muslim houses of worship being built in New York in light of the November elections.
SEE: New York's New Mosque Fight
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/26/new_yorks_new_mosque_fight/
Assembly Candidate Speaks Out Against Mosque
http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2012/33/bn_akselrodmosque_2012_08_10_bk.html
Awad noted that comments to a Staten Island Advance online article covering the Muslim holiday, by a person identified as "midland007" stated:
"I am going to walk my pet pig and i am gonna let him take a nice fat dump in the field ....just in time for morning prayers (:"
And:
"They should send in a assault team and rid Staten island of all the muslim terrorists"
CAIR-NY is a chapter of America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.