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A Muslim organization says bullet holes were found in the windows of a Winnipeg mosque that was targeted while people were inside Wednesday night.
The Winnipeg Police Service is not confirming gunshots were fired at the Rahma Islamic Centre on Watt Street. Police have confirmed they received reports of damage to the property shortly after 11:30 p.m. and that multiple windows were “shattered,” with the damage estimated at more than $3,000.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims said in a news release Thursday that security video shows two people walking up to the centre, with one person “attacking” the building’s walls with what appears to be a blunt object. The council is a non-profit organization dedicated to civic engagement and the promotion of human rights.
The council also said in a Facebook post that it appears the same two people drove by and yelled racial expletives at Muslims attending the centre earlier Wednesday.
Nobody was injured, the council said. Police have confirmed there were reports of the incident involving a vehicle.
Steven Zhou, a spokesperson for the council, says the people who attend the centre are shaken up.
“They have a tough time wrapping their heads around this kind of incident,” he said.
“You know, we hear about things that happened in some other cities or whatever as an abstract problem, but I think everyone’s very shaken that this thing’s kind of hitting home.”
Zhou says the council is noticing an uptick in anti-Muslim harassment across Canada, especially in the past month or so.
“So, we’re kind of noticing almost like a kind of crisis moment with this problem across the country when it comes to threats, vandalism, various other kinds of harassment against Muslims across the country.”
Winnipeg police hate crime co-ordinators are investigating. No suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made, a police spokesperson said.
Community representatives and elected officials are expected to speak at a gathering scheduled at the mosque at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
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