NSW Police investigating a second threat made to a mosque in Padstow

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Muslin community leaders in Sydney fear their right to practice their faith in peace is being threatened amid escalating Islamophobia. New South Wales police are now investigating four online comments directed at two mosques in southwest Sydney – all referencing the Christchurch terror attack.

Transcript

00:00Friday prayers go ahead as planned at Lakemba Mosque in South West Sydney, but not without

00:12a sense of unease.

00:14We've got elderly who won't come to the mosque at the moment because they're too scared to

00:17walk to the mosque and it's not fair, I mean everyone has a right to pray and feel protected.

00:23In the middle of Ramadan, the Lakemba Mosque's TikTok account has been the subject of three

00:29online threats and earlier this month, one of those accounts posted a similar threatening

00:34remark, targeting the nearby mosque in Padstow.

00:38All four comments referenced the 2019 Christchurch terror attack, where 51 people were killed.

00:45To make a reference to it, I find so callous, but again, we're a resilient bunch, we've

00:50lived through all these events.

00:52As their investigation continues, police have stepped up patrols in the area.

00:58And it shouldn't be like that, you know, we live in the best country in the world and

01:00people have the right to practice their faith in peace and at the moment that's being tested.

01:06Here in Lakemba, many Muslim community members tell me they feel that rising Islamophobia

01:12has been left unchecked over the last year and a half and therefore allowed to escalate.

01:19It comes after a 16-year-old from West Australia was charged over a similar threat to a mosque

01:25in Edmondson Park earlier this month.

01:28The Islamophobia Register says there's been a 500% increase in anti-Muslim incidents in

01:34Australia since October 2023.

01:37The track record is very clear.

01:39We will not tolerate this kind of hatred in our community and we'll do everything we can

01:44to ensure the full force of the law is applied.

01:47The Premier placing his faith in police so the Muslim community can practice theirs without

01:53fear.

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