PETERBOROUGH, Canada—“Masjid Al-Salaam,” which translates as the peace mosque, is the only mosque in the small city of Peterborough, Ontario. On the evening of Nov. 14, some 70 of its 200 members were celebrating the birth of a baby. Only half an hour after they cleared out, someone smashed the back window and set the inside ablaze.
“Mothers with little kids were there,” Kawartha Muslim Religious Association (KMRA) President Kenzu Abdella told local publication the Peterborough Examiner.
He speculated that the arson may be connected to last Friday’s Paris attacks, coming one day later, but he is awaiting further information from the police investigation.
“It has come across our mind that it could be, but we don’t know,” said Abdella.
Police have characterized it as a “hate crime,” but have not identified any suspects.
The only other time the mosque was deliberately damaged since its founding in 1994 was shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The windows were smashed at that time.
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No one was injured, but the fire caused an estimated $80,000 (US$60,000) in damage. A security guard outside the mosque said the windows had expanded in the heat and couldn’t be opened to air the place out.
Though the mosque remained structurally sound, with little damage evident from the outside, the charred insides were not safe to enter without professional supervision. Flowers addressed to “our neighbors,” were left near the door.
