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Unknown
Assailants Raze A Mosque In Spain
Report
by Abdul Salam Basha, IOL Spain correspondent
CATALAN,
Spain, March 7 (IslamOnline) – Zirbiera Village Mosque, in the Spanish
province of Catalan, was razed with Molotov bombs Tuesday, causing a fire that
was controlled by the city's firemen.
The
unknown assailants, meanwhile, left a huge paint on the mosque's outer wall with
the word "Moro", used in Spanish as a degradation term of Arabs.
The
razed mosque (Lidya) had been established only two months ago.
In
a separate related incident, a halal butcher shop, selling and slaughtering
sheep the Islamic way, has been the target of an attempted arson.
Spanish
daily newspaper, Almondo, interviewed one of the Muslims who pray
regularly in Lidya Mosque and quoted him as saying, "I do not understand
why they did that. The mosque has got all necessary permissions. The only thing
we do here is praying. Neighbors have expressed their happiness with
establishing the mosque. We never had problems with any one."
The
owner of the only Islamic butcher shop, the only Islamic one in the city, told Almondo,
"At the same night, they tried to throw petrol at the shop (butcher's) to
set it on fire, but they could not. They had to flee when they saw some Moroccan
youth coming down the street."
The
population of Zirbiera village amounts to 8000 people, among whom there are 1000
immigrants. Four hundred of these immigrants are Muslims.
Muslims
in the village say they live in peace and harmony with their Spanish neighbors.
Most of the immigrants are farmers or construction workers.
The
mayor of the village, Salvador Bordies, tried to downplay the incident. He told Almondo
Wednesday that "the incident had no racist motives. Coexistence in the
village is never interrupted," he added.
His
deputy, Ramon Pierre Nawes, emphasized the same meaning. "Zirbiera has
never witnessed any racist motivated violence. Immigrants send their children to
public schools and practice their daily activities very peacefully. We look at
the incident as an ordinary criminal act."
Meanwhile,
Spanish authorities have started investigations to uncover the identity of the
assailants.
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