Rutgers Islamic center vandalism investigated as ‘bias crime’
The Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University (CILRU) was vandalized early Wednesday morning in an incident university police said they are investigating as a "bias crime."
The vandalism took place on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at the New Jersey university’s Muslim Chaplaincy house, according to CILRU’s statement posted Wednesday on Facebook.
CILRU posted photos of the destruction and said the building was left with shattered windows, vandalized televisions, broken printers, smashed artwork and a destroyed Palestinian flag.
The CILRU statement described the incident as “undoubtedly” a hate crime.
“This reprehensible act, occurring on our sacred day, is undoubtedly fueled by Islamophobia is clearly a hate crime targeting our Muslim population at Rutgers,” the statement read. “We will continue to say what we are suppose to on Eid. Allahu Akbar, God is Greater. God is Greater than acts of hate and we will continue to carry on.”
“Our building can be smashed, but our wills cannot,” the statement continued.
The Rutgers Police Department issued a statement on Facebook saying it was "investigating a burglary, criminal mischief, and bias crime” that occurred at the CILRU at 4:34 a.m. Wednesday.
“In this incident, the perpetrator(s) used force to gain access to the building. Once inside the perpetrator(s) caused damage to several items of value. The area was unoccupied at the time of this incident,” the police statement read.