Members of New Jersey’s Muslim community are calling for Piscataway police and local officials to investigate what they say was a bias-motivated incident that occurred Saturday and targeted the Muslim Center of Middlesex County.
More than 200 community members were gathered at the Muslim Center of Middlesex County in Piscataway Saturday when a truck displaying a digital billboard with photos from 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai entered the center’s parking lot around 1:30 p.m., according to security footage provided by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ).
CAIR-NJ and members of the Muslim Center of Middlesex County held a joint press conference in Piscataway on Wednesday to demand a response to the incident.
“While everyone — even bigots — has the right to free speech, no one has the right to target religious minorities, especially at their houses of worship, with acts of perceived intimidation and harassment,” CAIR-NJ Executive Director Selaedin Maksut said in a statement.
The incident has been reported to Piscatatway police, the group said.
It has been 14 years since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, in which 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organization from Pakistan, carried out coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. There is no relation between the group and the residential Muslim Center of Middlesex County.
The truck circled the mosque parking lot twice, making stops throughout, video shows.
“We call on local law enforcement and the FBI to investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable,” said Maksut. “We also call on local officials to condemn this dangerous incident and the vile hatred that accompanied it in the strongest terms.”
A request submitted to the Piscataway Clerk’s Office for a copy of the police report pertaining to the incident was not immediately available Wednesday.
New Jersey ranks among the top 10 states for anti-mosque incidents, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
This past year alone, the Council on American Islamic Relations’ New Jersey chapter documented over 100 cases of anti-Muslim discrimination and/or bias incidents. Between 2014 and 2019, there were at least 10,015 anti-Muslim bias incidents, which included 1,164 anti-Muslim hate crimes.
In a recent study, CAIR found that 69% of more than 1,000 American Muslims surveyed said they had experienced bigotry or discrimination.
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Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.
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