“It threatens not only a minority group … but the diversity of the university. It’s probably a message of saying, ‘You’re not welcome here.’
A pig’s head was dumped near a Muslim prayer room at an Australian University while police is investigating the matter, a media report said.
“University of WA student Majdi Fal made the gruesome discovery in a toilet near the prayer room on Sunday afternoon,” The Guardian said in its report.
He told Perth radio 6PR it was particularly alarming that a university had been targeted by anti-Islamists, but he was confident the institution’s authorities would do their best to find out who did it, it reported.
“It threatens not only a minority group … but the diversity of the university. It’s probably a message of saying, ‘You’re not welcome here.’
In a statement, the report said, the UWA guild said it was investigating the incident, which it labelled an “unprecedented display of Islamophobia”.
“The university is very saddened by this deplorable act. Acts like this are designed only to incite religious and racial hatred. We would like to reinforce that UWA strives to support a culturally inclusive and tolerant campus community and the university will offer help and support to our Muslim students at this time,” it said while quoting UWA statement.
A police spokeswoman said the matter was being investigated and it was important not to jump to conclusions about motive as the toilet was in a public space, it reported.
In November last year the head, limbs and guts of a pig were dumped at the Masjid Ibrahim Islamic mosque in the Perth suburb of Southern River.
The Ar-Rukun mosque in Rockingham had been targeted a week earlier when vandals had splashed white paint on the entrance.