Over the weekend, a mosque in Warren, Michigan, was targeted in a possible act of vandalism that leaders believe could be a hate crime. The Islamic Organization of North America (IONA), located on Ryan Road, sustained broken windows and graffiti on both the interior and on construction equipment, as reported by The Detroit News. The incident occurred late Saturday night and was discovered early Sunday.
The Warren Police Department has confirmed that they are currently investigating the act of vandalism. While the word "gay" was found spray-painted on construction equipment and the word "love" on the floor, Dawud Walid, Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), found the messages left to be ambiguous. He told The Detroit News, "It's odd. It's nothing overtly anti-Muslim … At the same time, this mosque has been vandalized before. Its leaders have been threatened."
CAIR-MI, a leading Muslim civil rights group, is looking to expedite the investigation by offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, as shared by METROTIMES. "There is no valid justification for anyone to vandalize private property, especially a house of worship," Walid urged in his statement. The mosque, which has faced similar instances of hate in the past, is currently in the process of an expansion, and leaders have vowed to reinstall security cameras that had been removed during construction in light of the recent incident.
