Islamic Community Council: Message sent to Bosniaks that they are unwelcome

The Islamic Community Council of Prijedor issued a statement regarding the act of vandalism in which the Čaršijska Mosque in Prijedor was damaged.

- On Sunday, 14.09.2014, in the late hours (11:30 PM) after the final match of the World Basketball Championship between Serbia and the USA, the central Čaršijska Mosque in Prijedor, which has been declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was again attacked and desecrated. A large group of people, walking through the main street of the city of Prijedor, passing by the Čaršijska Mosque in Prijedor, sang nationalist songs and shouted chants that conveyed a message of hatred and non-coexistence. At the moment when the group was passing by the mosque, one of the vandals broke the glass on one of its windows, and all this happened in plain sight of the police, who, after the Čaršijska imam Omer ef. Redžić asked the officer: „Why don't you do something?”, replied that they were powerless. The imam recorded all of this with his camera - the statement said.

From the Islamic Community Council in Prijedor, they consider that this is a message continuously sent to returnees in this city about how unwelcome they are, and that this is a direct incitement of hatred and an attempt to intimidate Bosniaks once again.

- Since the return of Bosniaks to Prijedor, there have been several attacks on Islamic religious buildings, and the Čaršijska Mosque has been the most frequent target of vandals. The prosecuting authorities have so far never identified the perpetrators of the previous misdeeds committed out of religious and national hatred, nor have they provided us with any possible feedback on the matter. We appeal to all relevant institutions and bodies, and especially to the Mayor of the City of Prijedor, Marko Pavić, to condemn this, in a series so far, act of vandalism, and for the perpetrators to finally be identified and punished. We demand that an end be put to such misdeeds, and in this way send a message that Bosniaks should not fear every new match or other celebration that has regularly become a reason for sending such negative messages - the statement said.

The mosque is the heart of the faithful, and this act of vandalism is a blow to the heart of every Bosniak believer, says the statement of the Islamic Community Council of Prijedor.