‘Muslims are Evil:’ Another Australian Mosque Suffers Anti-Islam Vandalism

A Brisbane mosque was vandalised with anti-Muslim graffiti on Wednesday.

The incident took place in Rocklea, in the southern part of Brisbane, where a Muslim prayer centre was vandalised with a graffiti-message against Muslims. Police were called after the graffiti were discovered. ABC News reported that it was the prayer hall used by Indonesian Muslims. "Muslims are evil and have no respect for our ways," the message says. In addition, there was "die" written on the entrance while the mosque walls had large letters sprayed: Get the f*ck out of our country."

The people, who were responsible for the graffiti, were called "brainless" by police who found multiple number of evidence of their identity. Another mosque in Mareeba was vandalised on Friday, Sept 19. According to Inspector Rob Graham, the people who committed the "brainless" crime should be identified as the place was surrounded by multiple security cameras. Graham said that police did not suspect it to be an act of "criminal masterminds." In addition to the CCTV footage, there was a plenty of other evidence that was obtained through touch DNA and fingerprints left by the offenders.

According to Graham, neither the police service nor the Queensland community is going to take the incident lightly. "This is not the type of thing the police service or the wider Queensland community would condone," he said, "We also seek assistance from anyone who might know who these people are or whether they were a member of a particular group who may have done this to come forward."

Hamid Mawardi, the president of the Islamic Indonesian Community of Queensland, said that the vandalism was a result of people's misconception regarding Islam. Mawardi said that he had been peacefully living in the locality for a long time. He appreciated the quick response of the officers after they had been called for the spray-paint vandalism. Identifying the Muslim community in the country as "Australian," Mawardi said that the defacing had probably been done by "just kids." "Whoever did this respect us as Australians," he said.

Queensland Police Commission Ian Stewart earlier said that police had a "strong view" that terrorism was not based on culture or religion. Connecting the Muslim community with terrorists can only be done by those "who have no respect for any of us or for any particular religion or religious group," he said.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au