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Worshippers at a Canadian mosque have confronted and restrained a person who was allegedly wielding an axe and attacked them with bear spray throughout Saturday morning prayers, police say.
One worshipper knocked the axe from the person’s arms, and held him down till police arrived, native media stories.
A 24-year-old man was arrested on the scene within the suburb of Mississauga, and he has since been charged.
Some congregants had minor injures from the bear spray, the mosque’s imam stated.
One of many worshippers stated the expertise was “terrifying” and described listening to a scream earlier than turning round to see a person holding an axe and utilizing bear spray – much like pepper spray – in opposition to three individuals.
“By the point he was spraying, the individuals within the first row realized one thing was happening and one of many younger males circled and knocked away the axe earlier than he had an opportunity to make use of it,” Noorani Sairally informed Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.
The younger man then held the alleged assailant down till police arrived, the witness stated.
“Earlier than he may inflict hurt on any worshippers, a number of congregants bravely had been capable of cease him in his tracks,” imam Ibrahim Hindy stated in an announcement, describing the second the attacker entered the location.
“Our group won’t ever be damaged and we refuse to be intimated,” he added.
Police have named the person they arrested as Mohammad Moiz Omar, and charged him with six offences together with assault with a weapon and administering a noxious substance with intent to hazard life or trigger bodily hurt.
Following preliminary uncertainty over a doable motive, investigators now say they imagine the assault was a “hate-motivated incident.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one among numerous high-profile Canadian public figures to sentence the assault, which he described as “extremely disturbing” and applauded the braveness of the worshippers on the mosque.
Canada’s Muslim group has been focused in numerous lethal assaults, together with in 2017 when a taking pictures at a Quebec Metropolis mosque killed six individuals and left one other eight wounded.
And final 12 months, 4 members of the identical Muslim household had been killed after a car hit them in London, Ontario, which was described by police as a deliberate Islamophobic assault. – BBC
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