Portales mosque vandalized

PORTALES – The director of the Portales Islamic Center said Friday the mosque was attacked by vandals Friday for a fifth time since June 1.

Ahmed Benssouda, the director, said police and firefighters responded to a report of smoke emerging from the center about 1 a.m.

Benssouda said there was smoke inside the building as well as outside.

In addition, Benssouda said, "racial messages" were spray-painted on the center's walls, including "the N-word" and the initials "KKK."

Benssouda said vandals damaged carpets, poured beer in places and urinated on carpets.

"They urinated on holy ground," he said.

An Islamic civil rights and advocacy organization has called for law enforcement to investigate the vandalism at the Islamic Center, located at 15th Lane and South Avenue I, in Portales

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a news release, stated copies of the Quran, the Islamic holy book, were damaged and were doused with beer.

The news release also stated that the vandals "stabbed holes into the walls, destroyed furniture, left trash around the building and placed a framed rendering of Jesus Christ atop a pile of rubble," which Benssouda confirmed.

Benssouda said there were valuable items in the building that could have been stolen but were not, leading him to believe the vandals were motivated "only by a need to destroy."