The words “Fuck Islam” and “Rapers”, sprayed on the outer walls of a mosque in Mellunmäki on Wednesday and Thursday night last week coinciding with the mass shooting of muslims in New Zealand has caused sorrow, distress and fear among the muslim community in Helsinki.

“I burst into tears in my car, at work and in the toilet” writes one Finnish muslim on her Facebook post, “Islamophobia is real. Racism is real. I hold you in the media, politicians and decision makers who feed the bias agains muslims responsible. Hate speech and discrimination must be taken seriously. I want a safe Finland for my daughter.”

This was not the first time that the walls of this mosque were painted with hate speech; hateful grafiitti has been sprayed on the walls a few times before.

“The events in New Zealand demonstrate, that there is a short distance from hate speech to hate crimes” writes the Finnish Imam of Mellunmäki mosque, “I pray to god that we wont have to wash anything worse than paint from our mosque’s walls."

The walls were washed after the Friday prayer with participation of both mosque goers and non-muslims who volunteered to help.

HT

Photo: Mellunmäki mosque FB