Australian police yesterday said they had launched an investigation after a threatening letter was sent to the country’s largest mosque, the third such incident in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The letter sent on Wednesday to Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west contained a drawing of a pig and a threat to kill the “Muslim race,” local media reported.
Police said they had taken the letter for forensic testing, and would continue to patrol religious sites including the mosque, as well as community events.
Photo: Reuters
The latest letter comes weeks after a similar message was mailed to the mosque, depicting Muslim people inside a mosque on fire.
Police have also arrested and charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a third threatening letter sent last month to Lakemba Mosque’s staff.
The Lebanese Muslim Association, which runs the mosque, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) it had written to the government to request more funding for additional security guards and surveillance cameras.
About 5,000 people are expected to attend the mosque each night during Ramadan.
More than 60 percent of residents in the suburb of Lakemba identify as Muslim, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Bilal El-Hayek, mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown Council, where Lakemba is located, said the community was feeling “very anxious.”
“I’ve heard firsthand from people saying that they won’t be sending their kids to practice this Ramadan because they’re very concerned about things that might happen in local mosques,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the string of threats.
“It is outrageous that people just going about commemorating their faith, particularly during the holy month for Muslims of Ramadan, are subject to this sort of intimidation,” he told ABC radio. “I have said repeatedly we need to turn down the temperature of political discourse in this country, and we certainly need to do that.”
Anti-Muslim sentiment has been growing in Australia since the war in Gaza War in late 2023, a report commissioned by the government showed.
The Islamophobia Register Australia has also documented a 740 percent rise in reports following the Bondi Beach mass shooting on Dec. 14 last year, where authorities allege two gunmen inspired by Islamic State killed 15 people attending a Jewish holiday celebration.
“There’s been a massive increase post-Bondi,” El-Hayek said. “Without a doubt, this is the worst I have ever seen it. There’s a lot of tension out there.”
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