Mosques attacked in revenge
BY TONY BROOKS
A WORLDWIDE backlash against Moslem communities was feared last night
as dozens of attacks were reported in several American cities.
In Australia, a school bus carrying Islamic children was stoned and
vandals tried to set fire to a Lebanese church.
In Canada, a firebomb was hurled at a mosque in Montreal and in
Oakville, Ontario, five schoolchildren with Arab sounding names were
assaulted.
In Chicago, more than 300 demonstrators, many waving Stars and Stripes
flags and chanting "USA! USA!" marched on a mosque in the Bridgeview
suburb. They were turned back by police who made three arrests.
Also in Chicago, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Arab-American
community centre and in Dallas, Texas, the windows of a mosque were shot
out.
In Huntington, New York, a 75-yearold drunken man tried to run over a
Pakistani woman in the car park of a shopping centre, then followed her
into the store and threatened to kill her "for destroying my country".
New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani said neighbourhoods with large
Arab-American populations would receive extra police protection.
More than six million Americans consider themselves Moslem and their
leaders appealed for calm.
The Arab-American Institute said: "Regardless of who is ultimately
found to be responsible for these terrorist murders, no ethnic or
religious community should be treated as suspect and collectively blamed."
The group's Washington office received at least a dozen abusive phone
calls, media director Jenny Salan said.
President James Zogby said the Arab-American community was as
devastated as the rest of the nation. ,We have friends and family who work
in the World Trade Center and we have family and friends who work at the
Pentagon.
"While we would like to mourn like everybody else in America, we end up
looking over our shoulder because someone is pointing a finger"
American Airlines chief executive Don Carty warned employees to avoid
channelling their anger into mistreatment of their fellow workers or
customers. "We simply cannot do that," he said. "Moslems and Arabs are our
co-workers and our customers and they grieve over this tragedy as
well."
Fuad Sahouri, chairman of the Arab-American Business and Professional
Association in Washington, said he hoped Arab-Americans would not suffer
the same fate as the 120,000 Japanese forced from their homes by order of
President Roosevelt after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
"We don't want to be excluded or insulated or treated how
Japanese-Americans were treated," he said. "It's very important right now
for Arab Americans that their loyalty never be brought into question. We
are Americans first."
 "KAS TERORISTAI?"
| 
Rašykite