Separate incidents being investigated as hate crime
Advertisement
City police say they are investigating two recent incidents of vandalism at a hookah lounge and a synagogue as hate crimes.
The Winnipeg Police Service made the announcement at a news conference Monday.
Someone smashed the front windows at Habibiz Café, at 1373 Portage Ave., shortly before 5 a.m. Sunday and left a note saying, “Leave our country terrorist. F— off.”
The owner, Ali Zeid, is of Palestinian heritage and has operated the café for five years, he told the Free Press Sunday.
At about 4:30 a.m. Friday, someone spray-painted graffiti two swastikas, the word “hate” and another word believed to be an acronym on the doors of Congregation Shaarey Zedek. Maintenance staff discovered the graffiti at the Wellington Crescent site later that morning.
“We are concerned that this type of attack, intimidation, displays of hate and antisemitism are becoming normalized in our Canadian way of life,” Gustavo Zentner, vice-president at CIJA, told the Free Press Sunday.