Calls for Increased Protection After Mosque Attacked Through Online Comments

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A mosque in Sydney’s west was targeted by social media comments calling for a repeat of an infamous terrorist attack.
Over 50 worshippers were murdered during prayers at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has confirmed police are in the early stages of an investigation.

NSW premier Chris Minns has condemned comments invoking an Islamophobic attack, saying no tolerance would be shown for “completely odious and frankly racist” behaviour.

Lakemba Mosque in Sydney’s west was targeted by social media comments calling for a repeat of an Australian man’s terrorist attack in New Zealand in which 51 worshippers were murdered during prayers.

The reference to the 2019 attack in Christchurch was posted on a video Lakemba Mosque shared on TikTok showing worshippers during Ramadan.

On Friday, NSW Police confirmed it was investigating a second threat to a mosque in Padstow.

Minns confirmed police were in the early stages of an investigation.

“I hope the community can have confidence that charges will be laid if people are found to have acted in this way, there will be no tolerance shown,” he said.

“We will ensure that the laws are applied and if people are going to drag up reprehensible, completely odious, and frankly racist attacks on members of the community, we are going to confront it with the law.”

“Enough is enough,” a post on the mosque’s Facebook page said on Thursday.

“This is not just online hate — we have seen where unchecked racism leads.

“We demand protection, respect, and the right to live without fear in our own country.”

The call for greater protection comes amid debate about laws rushed through the NSW parliament in February to criminalise hate speech on the grounds of race.

The changes were introduced after a spate of attacks targeting Jewish sites and communities and the discovery of an explosives-laden caravan on Sydney’s outskirts in what had appeared to be antisemitic plot.

Many of those incidents, including the caravan discovery, , rather than ideological reasons, police have since revealed.

The laws have been criticised for singling out race-based hate speech but failing to extend the same protections to religious communities.

In a joint statement released on Thursday, the Alliance of Australians for Muslims, the Australian National Imams Council, Lebanese Muslim Association and United Muslims of Australia demanded tougher action.

“The fact that direct calls for a massacre against Muslims are not covered under the current hate speech laws sends a troubling message to Muslim Australians — that their safety is not a priority,” the statement said.

“We demand that the government take immediate action to strengthen laws that address anti-Muslim hate and ensure the safety and well-being of Australian Muslims.”

Chris Minns, wearing a suit, speaking into a microphone at a lectern outside a building with Arabic writing on it. There are people behind him

NSW Premier Chris Minns has contemned Islamophobic comments. Source: AAP / Flavio Brancaleone

Minns said racist and religious threats and attacks were taken seriously in NSW and rejected

“If you look at the track record of the both the government and NSW Police, where there have been these threats, actions have taken place, arrests have been made, charges have been laid against those individuals,” he said.

“We will not tolerate this kind of hatred in our community.”

The Islamophobia Register said it was “concerned and distressed” by the “alarming surge in online threats and hate speech” targeting the Muslim community.

The register also called on the government to increase law enforcement resources to track and prosecute individuals spreading Islamophobic threats.

“Hatred and violence have no place in our society, and no one should live in fear due to their religious identity,” executive director Nora Amath said.

“We call on authorities to take swift and decisive action to ensure justice and safeguard all Australians from targeted hate and discrimination. Additionally, we urge serious attention to be given to all incidents of Islamophobia.”

Gamel Kheir, secretary of Lakemba Mosque’s custodians, the Lebanese Muslim Association, told AAP the community was experiencing “a sense of heightened alarm”.

“The Christchurch tragedy rings in our ears as it is and the community really is on edge over Gaza … their nerves are frayed,” he said.

“These sort of acts … even if they are meaningless, just drive a wedge into the community which we don’t need at the moment.”

Kheir said police and security were patrolling but the doors would not close.

“The mosque will always be open … this is a place of worship,” he said.

He welcomed the parliamentary inquiry and hoped it would provide answers.

Local mayor Bilal El-Hayek said the post was another disgusting case of Islamophobia.

“Hate speech and intolerance against the Muslim community is on the rise and we must all call it out,” he said.

The threat came after a Western Australian teenager was charged for similarly invoking a repeat of the Christchurch attack in a comment on another Sydney mosque’s social media page earlier in March.