A young man narrowly avoided being attacked by an individual who was prowling near a Montreal mosque at dawn on Sunday.
The suspect, a 32-year-old man, even went so far as to break the windows of the glass doors to enter the place of worship where he found himself face to face with several men.
The attack was filmed by the establishment’s surveillance cameras, a video of which TVA Nouvelles obtained a copy.
The attack took place at the Al Oumma mosque, located in downtown Montreal, at the intersection of Saint-Dominique and René-Lévesque, around 5:07 a.m.
A young man was on his way to morning prayer when the individual started running towards him with a blunt object. The faithful managed to narrowly enter the mosque, but the suspect began to break the glass of a first door with a brick.
On the surveillance camera images, it is then possible to see him entering, taking care to replace his hood over his mouth. It is in the entrance. He picks up his brick and breaks another glass door allowing him to access the place of prayer.
He then arrives in front of several men and turns around to flee.
The windows are however reinforced, doubled, for more security. The individual still managed to smash them.
The police were called and arrived at the scene within a minute. The suspect was arrested at the scene before being released. He is expected to face misdemeanor charges on a promise to appear.
According to the people at the mosque, the police who showed up did not seem to have understood that the man tried to attack a person, they consider the event a hate crime.
The assailant was seen by the security manager several minutes earlier prowling around the establishment, reinforcing the idea of a premeditated attack.
For its part, the SPVM encourages people who were there to speak to the police in order to expand the investigation.
The young adult targeted in the attack was particularly scared and has not been seen at the mosque since.
The MP for Ville-Marie–Le Sud-Ouest–Île-des-Sœurs, Marc Miller, reacted on Twitter by calling the whole thing a hateful attack.
“Hateful attack committed at the Al Oumma mosque in Montreal yesterday. I hope this Islamophobic attack will be fully investigated by the SPVM! The faithful must feel safe when they gather for their prayers,” he said.