Trudeau condemns mosque attack, denounces Islamophobia in Canada
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answers a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Jan. 31, 2024. (AP Photo)


Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday condemned an attack on a mosque in Mississauga, Ontario, investigated as a hate crime amid a concerning surge in Islamophobia, according to rights advocates.

The incident, where two rocks were thrown through the mosque window on Sunday, coincided with the anniversary of a 2017 mosque attack in Quebec that claimed six lives.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported in this recent event, as per CBC News.

"Islamophobia has no place in any of our communities," Trudeau said on X, formerly called Twitter.

"The attack against a Mississauga mosque earlier this week - on the National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia - is cowardly, disturbing, and unacceptable. I condemn it in the strongest terms possible," he said.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims said the attack was "part of an alarming rise in Islamophobic hate across the country."

In November, authorities in Toronto said the number of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes in Canada's largest city had spiked significantly since the start of the Gaza conflict.

Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in many parts of the world since Palestinian group Hamas' Oct. 7 incursion on Israel, which killed 1,200, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel has indiscriminately bombed the Gaza Strip, killing more than 27,000, mainly women and children, and flattening most of the densely populated enclave, where nearly all of the 2.3 million population is now displaced as a result.