US Muslims demand protection after threats

OnIslam & Newspapers

CAIRO – A leading American Muslim advocacy group has urged law enforcement authorities to step up protection of mosques and Islamic schools which received a series of attacks and threats after Texas’ Garland shooting earlier this week.

“All Americans, regardless of faith, have the right to feel safe and secure in school and at their places of worship,” Zainab Chaudry, Outreach Manager of the Maryland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net.

“These threats are deeply disturbing and we strongly urge authorities to take prompt measures to ensure the security of the students who attend this Islamic school.”

CAIR calls for an FBI hate crime investigation followed reports of an attack on a Muslim worshiper outside a Texas mosque.

A worshipper at the Islamic Association of North Texas in Richardson, Texas, was beaten as he left a prayer service Monday night.

The victim suffered some scrapes and cuts above his eye, police said. He refused a ride to the hospital and was treated at the scene and released.

“It was all very quick,” police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Perlich told Dallas News.

“We don’t know if this an anti-Muslim thing or a robbery attempt or what it was.”

The attacks followed Sunday’s controversial anti-Muslim cartoon drawing of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad contest in Garland, Texas, which resulted in the shooting deaths of two gunmen killed by police officers.

The “Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” was organized by right-wing, anti-Muslim advocate Pam Geller, co-founder of the Freedom Defense and Stop Islamization of America initiatives, who has been denounced by numerous rights organizations, including both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center for her anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate campaigns.

In a bid to further offend Muslims, she even offered a $10,000 prize to the contest winner drawing the most despicable cartoon of Prophet Muhammad.

Geert Wilders, a polarizing Dutch politician, and anti-Islam campaigner, was among the speakers at the Sunday’s event.

Hooper said the Maryland and Texas incidents are part of a recent spate of hate incidents nationwide targeting Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim.

17-20