A mosque in the Dutch city of Rotterdam has been attacked, with its wall vandalised, beer bottles thrown and indecent behaviour outside the building, the Islamic Foundation Netherlands (ISN) said.
In a statement on Friday, the organisation said six attackers vandalised the Mevlana Mosque at around 10:40 p.m. on Thursday. The attackers damaged a mosaic wall of the mosque, threw beer bottles at the building and urinated at its front, it said.
The statement said the mosque authorities called the police repeatedly, but the police arrived only after the attackers had left the area, having failed to respond in time.
It added that, with attacks targeting Muslims and mosques rising, worshippers increasingly feel a lack of safety. The police officers who came to the scene, however, did not consider the incident “a threat or emergency requiring direct intervention.”
Sharply criticising that assessment, the statement said such an attitude was hard to understand, and that ensuring worshippers’ safety and protecting their right to practise their faith without fear was vital. The attack, along with the delay in the police response, had caused deep concern, it said. The ISN said it had filed a formal criminal complaint and requested a priority investigation.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report