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Man Slams Car into Ohio Mosque
CHICAGO, Sept 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In an apparent "revenge" attack for the attacks in New York and Washington, a 29-year-old man rammed his car into a Parma, Ohio, mosque early Monday morning.
NewChannel5 reports that Eric Richley, of Middleburg Heights, drove his car right up the steps, through the front door and landed on the top of a fountain inside the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland at 12:30 a.m.
Police say Richley was driving his car at 80 mph and was taken to a hospital.
A spokesman for the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland said that the mosque suffered more than $100,000 in damages as a result of the accident.
He said the mosque had received numerous bomb threats since Tuesday's attacks and had added extra security. Police, however, say that there was no way to prevent the "accident".
Haider Alwan, of the Council of Elders of the Islamic Center, said: "They're crazy because we're Arab Americans… [I was] born here, served my country, got my kids, grandkids, all American. We're as sad about insanity as anyone else, maybe more."
Parma is an ethnically diverse community of 87,000 located just south of Cleveland.
In a bid to defuse the growing anti-Muslim sentiments in the country, U.S. President George W. Bush visited an Islamic center in Washington, DC, Monday.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced "The president feels very strongly the importance of all leaders across America sending a message that as Americans, Muslim Americans love their flag too."
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (UCCR) announced Monday that it has issued a directive to its national complaint line to solicit and catalog discrimination complaints from Muslims and Arabs and to host forums on tolerance throughout the country.
"As the search for those merciless individuals who perpetrated the horrendous acts continues, we must be mindful that we as a nation do not unfairly single out any religious or ethnic communities," said UCCR Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry.
"All Americans, regardless of race, creed, or culture, were deeply affected by the unprecedented atrocities," she said.
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