Jakarta, CNNI Indonesia —
A mosque under construction at South Korea residents who refused construction of the house of worship were hit with pig heads.
Muslim activists and students also criticized the action which was deemed “Islamophobic”.
reported South China Morning Postresidents of the southeastern city of Daegu, South Korea, have repeatedly expressed their disapproval of the construction of the mosque near Kyungpook National University.
They blocked access to the mosque, posted denial banners, and held pork-barbecuing parties around the mosque site. More recently, residents even placed three pig heads on a bench in an alley outside the mosque.
The pig’s head was first placed on October 27. The next was deposed on November 14 and the third on December 6, according to a Muslim student representative named Mian Muaz Razaq.
Razaq also deemed the residents’ actions “Islamophobic”.
“They held demonstrations against Islam, they called us terrorists, they carried banners against our religion, they distributed hate-filled pamphlets against Muslims in our area, what are these actions called? This is pure Islamophobia,” Razaq said .
The spokesman for the group of human rights activists then called on the United Nations special rapporteur on religious freedom to urge the South Korean government to intervene to stop the actions of the residents. They also demanded that the pig’s head in the mosque be removed as soon as possible.
The call came after local authorities rejected a request by Muslim students to remove pig heads from mosques.
Daegu city officials said they have no authority to dispose of the pig’s head without residents’ consent because it is something residents buy.
The story of the dispute over the construction of a mosque in Daegu, South Korea, read on the facing page…
