A suspect was arrested on suspicion of arson after a fireplace final week at a mosque in St. Paul, Minn., at the least the fifth such act of vandalism within the state to date this yr that has left members of the Muslim group “residing in concern,” a state senator mentioned.
Jaylani Hussein, the chief director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, mentioned at a information convention that the mosque, the Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Middle, was left “utterly burned” after being set on fireplace on Wednesday.
The constructing was unoccupied on the time and no accidents had been reported, the St. Paul Fire Department said.
The suspect, Stated Murekezi, 42, was arrested on Thursday and booked on suspicion of arson, the St. Paul Police Division mentioned.
Mr. Murekezi, who instructed the police he’s Muslim, mentioned he was protesting homelessness, in keeping with charging paperwork. Mr. Murekezi instructed the police that if he hadn’t been caught, he would “torch one other one” or assault a church, the paperwork mentioned.
The assault comes after a spate of different acts of vandalism in opposition to Islamic homes of worship in Minnesota.
The Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Middle additionally had a window smashed three weeks in the past, the paperwork mentioned. On Could 12, one other mosque in St. Paul was vandalized when somebody smashed its doorways, Mr. Hussein mentioned. Nobody has been charged in both of those instances.
In April, Jackie Rahm Little was charged with arson after setting fireplace to 2 completely different mosques in Minneapolis. In a single case, he was interrupted within the act, in keeping with court docket paperwork. Within the different, a mosque consultant instructed investigators that the hearth brought on tens of hundreds of {dollars} of harm.
The state senator, Zaynab Mohamed, mentioned on Sunday that the Muslim group in Minneapolis was feeling “shaken by these assaults.”
“Particularly the individuals who go to those mosques frequently, they’re residing in concern proper now,” she mentioned. “These assaults aren’t new. They’ve been taking place for a very long time. However this yr they’re taking place extra usually, they usually’re extra harmful.”
Hate crimes in the US elevated almost 12 p.c in 2021 in contrast with 2020, in keeping with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However that information is incomplete, and specialists say that the figures are prone to be underestimates.
Of the 1,590 hate crimes associated to faith that had been reported, nearly 10 p.c had been anti-Islamic, the bureau mentioned.
Mr. Hussein mentioned in an interview on Sunday that he believed a number of the vandalism to be copycat acts and that many mosques had been struggling financially to forestall assaults, noting that the Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Middle didn’t have safety cameras.
“Our group is feeling weak,” Mr. Hussein mentioned. “We’re under-resourced and beneath assault.”
Amanda Holpuch contributed reporting.
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