Czech Republic: Unidentified assailants break mosque windows

Unidentified assailants have broken two windows at a mosque on Vídeňská Street in Brno. They are said to have used iron bars to smash them in.  

The attack was perpetrated yesterday, but it is not sure when. Police have been investigating since approximately 17:00 yesterday afternoon.

Petra Ledabylová, spokesperson for the Regional Police, informed the Czech News Agency of the incident. She has not provided any more details for the time being.  

According to the news portal Islamonline.sk, which reported on the inicident, the assailants broke windows in the prayer hall and school room. It is not the first time the mosque has been attacked.  

Unidentified perpetrators previously broke the glass in the mosque door, in a window, and spray-painted the facade. In 2013 someone placed a pile of pork bones in front of the doors to the mosque, smeared the door handle with lard, and hung a piece of pork meat on it.  

Detectives shelved their investigation of that case and have been unable to find the perpetrators. Muslims consider pork to be unclean.

Several hundred Muslims live in Brno, according to the available information. The first-ever mosque in the country has been in operation there since 1998.

In recent months anti-Muslim sentiment has been expressed ever more loudly in Czech society. On the one hand this has to do with concerns that a barrage of refugees might be heading to the country, and on the other hand it has to do with fear of Islamist terrorism.