A fire broke out at a Muslim cultural center in Sept-Îles, located in Canada’s Quebec Province, on Friday raising questions of another possible Islamophobic attack.
The Muslim cultural center was being used as a prayer room in the town of Sept- Îles with 25,000 inhabitants before becoming unusable despite efforts of the fire department teams.
Quebec provincial police have opened an investigation into the probable arson.
The Sept- Îles prayer room is expected to stay closed until renovation works are completed, they stated.
“It hurts. We worked really hard to rebuild this place. I don’t know what to call it, an act of ignorance, vengeance, hate?” asked Nabil Matrajji, a community member of the Muslim cultural center.
The cultural center was previously targeted in October by an attacker who broke into the building and vandalized the walls and bookshelves.
The centre’s president, Ben Rouine, stated that Friday’s fire marked the fourth or fifth time the centre has been damaged.
Canada has witnessed two attacks on different Muslim prayer rooms in Calgary in the past three months and anti-Muslim posters were posted across the University of Calgary campus, revealing a growing number of potential anti-Muslim crimes in the country.
The increase in anti-Muslim sentiments has emerged not only in Canada but in many countries in Europe, as well as the United States, after the November 2015 Paris attacks. Several European countries have witnessed a spike in Islamophobia and anti-migrant sentiment, especially after receiving an unprecedented influx of refugees, the majority of whom are Syrians fleeing war and violence.
