Charges laid in assault on Muslim

SHOPPER ATTACKED

LONDON, ONT. • Police have charged a woman with assault after another woman was punched, spat on and had her hijab pulled in a London, Ont., supermarket.

Investigators say the alleged victim was shopping with her four-month-old son late Monday afternoon when they were approached by a woman in a red Canada T-shirt who began yelling at them.

Police say the suspect then spat on the hijab-wearing mother and punched her several times.

They say the assailant then grabbed the woman’s hijab and attempted to pull it off her head before pulling her hair. She suffered minor injuries in the incident.

Police say they arrested a 38-year-old London woman late Tuesday evening and charged her with assault. They are not releasing her name.

It’s the second aggression against Muslims in Canada since the beginning of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting observed by Muslims around the world.

The other occurred around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

A man had finished praying at a Quebec City mosque. As he opened the door to leave, he noticed a package on the doorstep.

It must have looked like a nice present at first glance, with ribbons decorating the top, accompanied a note with the words Bon appétit in thick, black capital letters.

Wrapped in the crinkly cellophane was a severed pig’s head, still dripping fluids. Observant Muslims do not consume pork and leaving a pig’s head at a mosque has become a gesture of hate among anti-Muslim bigots across the globe. A similar incident occurred in Philadelphia last year.