Attack on a mosque in Yaroslavl

On the night of September 24 - on the eve of the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - a group of young people threw stones and Molotov cocktails at a mosque in Yaroslavl. The glass in the building was shattered. In addition, the attackers smashed two cars that were parked near the mosque.

The head of the Yaroslavl organization of Muslims, Curie Khalimov, told Interfax that "about half past twelve, several young people entered the courtyard of the mosque and threw bottles with a combustible substance into the windows of the hall on the second floor of the building, where at that time a night service was being held and parishioners were." According to K. Khalimov, the bottles got stuck between the window frames and did not explode.

The Council of Muftis of Russia expressed indignation in connection with the incident and called on Muslims "not to succumb to any provocations, to remain calm and spend the month of Ramadan in the goodness of fasting and in the zeal of serving Almighty Allah."

The Governor of the region Anatoly Lisitsyn met with representatives of the city's Muslim community. "I apologized to the imam for this act of vandalism. There is no social environment in the Yaroslavl region for inciting ethnic hatred and discord. I gave a strict order to law enforcement agencies to find these scoundrels," he told reporters after the meeting.

The Islamic organization of Yaroslavl and the Yaroslavl diocese issued a joint appeal on the incident. "This event is an act of religious intolerance and offends not only Muslims, but all believers. The desecration of the House of the Almighty has no justification. All world religions are united in their desire for harmony and understanding between people, regardless of their nationality and religious affiliation. The goal these hooligan actions is the formation in the public mind of the illusion of religious confrontation between Christians and Muslims in Yaroslavl," the appeal says.

Sources

• Mosque attacked in Yaroslavl // IA REGNUM. 2006. September 25. (With reference to Ekho Moskvy.)
• Unidentified people threw Molotov cocktails at the mosque in Yaroslavl // Interfax-religion. 2006. September 25.
• Council of Muftis calls on believers not to succumb to provocation in connection with the attack on a mosque in Yaroslavl and spend Ramadan in peace // There.
• Yaroslavl Governor urged law enforcement agencies to find the attackers on the Cathedral Mosque of Yaroslavl // There.
• True believers and Orthodox of Yaroslavl united against a common evil // Islam-info. 2006. September 27.