Sputnik
March 18, 2019
The attackers have covered the walls of Mellunmäki mosque, one of Finland’s largest, with hateful remarks such as “rapers” (sic) and “f**k Islam”.
The Shia-Muslim Mellunmäki mosque in eastern Helsinki has been vandalised not once, but twice in a single week, as affronts to the Islamic religion and its practitioners were spray-painted onto its walls, national broadcaster Yle reported.
On two consecutive days last week, inscriptions “rapers” and “f**k Islam” appeared on the outside of the Salamat charity’s prayer room.
The perpetrator was reportedly caught on camera, but his face is obscured by a hoodie, officials at the community centre say.
Helsinki, Finland : Islamophobic graffiti defaces wall of Mellunmäki mosque https://t.co/6gj0VLPScr #Muslim
— LlanFrancisco (@Welshbeard) March 17, 2019
At about 700 square metres of space, the mosque in Mellunmäki is one of Finland’s largest. It is located off the beaten path, which could have encouraged the vandals, according to its representatives.
“We hadn’t really seen this kind of thing before, but in recent years it has been starting to gain ground”, Paula Kemell, board president of Resalat, Finland’s largest Shia Muslim community organisation. “It’s not a regular event, but sometimes we have two instances of vandalism in the same week, like this week. Our website has also been hacked, threats are made against us and we are sent death threats. It never ends”, Kemell added, voicing hopes for a crackdown on hate speech in Finland.
As the vandalism coincided with a mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand, it has caused distress and fear among Helsinki’s Muslim community, the Helsinki Times reported.
“The events in New Zealand demonstrate, that there is a short distance from hate speech to hate crimes” Mellunmäki mosque imam told the news outlet, “I pray to god that…