The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for a hate-crime investigation following an alleged anti-Muslim incident outside of a mosque.
The incident took place on Saturday night outside the Islamic Cultural Center of New York mosque on Washington Boulevard in Stamford, according to CAIR. A man in an SUV allegedly began yelling at families, including children leaving the mosque, according to CAIR.
According to a cell phone video, obtained through CAIR, the man shouted several Islamophobic insults, including insults attacking Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
The man was recorded saying: “Get the f… out of here… Fifty-six Muslim countries in the world. Go pick one. Why do you come to a Catholic country? United States is a Christian country.”
Farhan Memon, CAIR-CT chairman, said this a “deliberate and targeted verbal assault meant to intimidate Muslim families, including children, as they peacefully left their house of worship.”
“When you have someone harassing people just coming out of their prayers it’s really, really scary,” Memon said.
Memon said he learned about the incident after it occured Saturday night, and that a man had allegedly pulled up to the fence outside of the mosque and started yelling anti-Muslim comments. Memon was sent the video.
Memon said the Stamford Police Department had been notified and were at the mosque Sunday morning collecting video evidence from CTTV cameras as well as the cell phone camera footage.
“Unfortunately, we live in a time when there are a lot of hate incidents against religious minorities, Muslims, and Jews,” Memon said.
Memon said he also communicated with Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons, who he said told him she would arrange a meeting with the mosque soon. Memon, however, said he believes there should be more urgency and immediacy, given “the tenor of the time” and the impact on a religious minority. An email seeking comment was sent Sunday to a Simmons spokesperson.
“We’ve seen, unfortunately, the consequence of that at very various mosques and synagogues around the world, both in the United States as well as in Quebec City and New Zealand. And so I would have expected that if a call came in to say that there’s an incident at a mosque, that something more would have happened (than) waiting until the next morning to look into it.”
“We have hate crime laws…let’s enforce those for the Muslim Community in Connecticut,” he said.
Memon said he’s been in touch with Ronnell Higgins, the Connecticut Public Safety Commissioner. A message seeking comment was sent Sunday to a spokesman for Higgins, who has made addressing hate crimes in the state part of his goals.
“He’s told me that he’s offered the assistance of the state hate crimes unit to the Stamford PD if they need assistance,” Memon said. “(The man in the SUV) needs to be held accountable..I think we would want the police to investigate and to determine whether or not, this qualifies as a hate crime and then take the appropriate actions necessary, including charging the person appropriately.”
A call and email to Stamford Police Department were not immediately returned. This story will be updated if calls are returned.