Hooligans on the Rampage Again: After Smashing Chandeliers This Morning, Hamidija Mosque Targeted with Beer Bottles!

This morning, September 2, 2015, a broken beer bottle was found in the corner under the minaret - next to the fence of the Hamidija Mosque courtyard in Mrkonjić Grad, reports the news agency Patria.

Incidentally, hooligans also desecrated this mosque yesterday when unknown persons smashed two chandeliers at the entrance to the mosque. And this morning, worshippers were again left in shock.

One of the interlocutors of the Patria agency said that this is not the first time barbarians have desecrated this mosque, which was renovated in 2007.

- It is up to the Serbian authorities to identify the perpetrators, to make their names public, and for the court to punish them appropriately. In the meantime - the president of the Islamic Community Board could also condemn the frequent acts of vandalism and insist on a thorough investigation and strict punishment of the vandals... The same applies to associations and clubs of refugees from Rika and the city - says the Patria interlocutor.

In this once predominantly Bosniak part of the city, the mosque was demolished by Serbian authorities in November 1992, after which the Bosniaks rebuilt it 15 years later.

The mosque is also known as the Rička Mosque, after the old part of the city called Rika.

- Only a few Bosniak families live in Rika today. After this morning's attack on the mosque, they explain that they are disturbed. The damage is not great, but the message is unequivocal, which is that the local Serbian authorities do not want Bosniaks in Mrkonjić Grad, writes Patria.