A group of men went to the Kuraby mosque in southern Brisbane on Wednesday, asked permission to be let inside to film what was going on, and then started abusing and threatening the worshippers.
“They started saying Islam is a cult and they started going through the books,” and called the worshippers “uncivilised animals”, said Ali Kadri, spokesman of Islamic Council of Queensland.
He said the men threatened a 65-year-old man and told a 15-year-old boy, “you don’t belong in this country, you bloody terrorist, and we should burn this place down to the ground”.
“Our community is terrorised by these people,” he added.
“If you ever want to talk about Islam, do it in a civilised manner,” he said. “Don’t be an uncivilised animal and go in and abuse children and old men and threaten children and old men.”
Police were called to the mosque and have taken at least one statement. Kadri said police had what they needed to pursue the matter.
According to The Guardian, “Another mosque in Brisbane – in Darra, a few suburbs away from Kuraby – was also targeted on Wednesday, but the group didn’t get past the closed front gate.”
A similar hate crime was reported by The Guardian on 19 June 2017, when “a backpack emblazoned with a swastika and containing a pig’s head was left at the front gate” of Queensland’s largest Islamic school.
“I'm just so sorry. I'm so so sorry we have to live in a world where kids can't go to school in Australia without being shamed and threatened”, tweeted Yassmin Abdel-Magied @yassmin_a
