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WARNING: This story contains references to threatening messages left at a synagogue and Palestinian restaurant
Winnipeg police are investigating two crimes that featured physical damage and threatening messages, including swastikas scrawled on a Winnipeg synagogue and graffiti accusing a Palestinian restaurant owner of being a terrorist.
Insp. Jennifer McKinnon said the hate crimes unit of the major crimes division is investigating the incidents, which were reported on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
“Within a matter of days, the Jewish community and Palestinian communities have been impacted by incidences that appear to be motivated by hate, but certainly cause fear and harm,” McKinnon said during a Monday news conference.
“Hate-motivated crimes [have] no place in our community.”
On Friday Jan. 2 at about 4:30 a.m., police say a man vandalized the Shaarey Zedek synagogue on Wellington Crescent. Antisemitic graffiti in the form of swastikas were painted on the property, which includes a child-care centre.
The person who reported that incident notified police on Sunday that the same individual had discarded a suspicious bag in the synagogue parking lot that “caused great concern,” McKinnon said. Upon inspection, she added, the bag posed no risk to the public.
Swastikas were spray-painted on the entrance of the Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Winnipeg on Jan. 2. (Submitted by Rena Secter Elbaze)
Also on Sunday, at 5:23 a.m., a person was caught on surveillance footage smashing windows at Habibiz Café, a Middle Eastern restaurant on Portage Avenue, McKinnon said, causing more than $5,000 in damage. She said that person didn’t enter the building but did leave a threatening message outside the restaurant.
Owner Ali Zeid said the message accused him of being a terrorist and said he should leave the country.
Surveillance footage shows a person smashing the windows of Habibiz Cafe, a Middle Eastern restaurant on Portage Avenue, on Sunday. A letter left at the restaurant said the owner should get out of the country. (Submitted by Habibiz Cafe/Instagram)
“I was born and raised here, lived in sunny St. James my entire life,” Zeid told CBC News on Monday. “Winnipeg is home. Manitoba’s home.
“My father came here 50 years ago, so to see this happen, it’s sad, it’s very sad. But it made us stronger because the way the public has been coming in and sharing their support with us has been amazing.”
Ali Zeid, owner of Habibiz Café and Middle Eastern restaurant on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, stands next to boarded-up windows that were smashed on Jan. 4. (Trevor Brine/CBC)
Members of a synagogue also came together in solidarity for Sabbath despite the antisemitic graffiti spray-painted on a wall on Friday.
“The intention was to intimidate and frighten people, maybe put people in a position where they didn’t want to show up,” Rena Secter Elbaze, executive director of the Congregation Shaarey Zedek, told CBC News on Saturday.
“Luckily people are resilient …. If they want to intimidate us, it’s not going to happen.”
A file picture of the Shaarey Zedek synagogue on Wellington Crescent in Winnipeg.
(Wendy Buelow/CBC)
Sadaf Ahmed, government relations officer with National Council of Canadian Muslims, said she has received calls from community members “distraught” and wanting support after Habibiz Cafe was targeted.
“It does follow a larger … pattern that we see across the country, where we have seen a sharp rise in anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim sentiment … over the last two years,” she told CBC News on Monday. “This is not a surprise, unfortunately.”
Ahmed said she would like to see all three levels of government take “clearer public policy responses that address anti-Palestinian racism … and its intersection with Islamophobia.”
“What we need to see for our police authorities is better resources for hate crime response, including hate crime education,” she said.
Sadaf Ahmed, government relations officer with National Council of Canadian Muslims, at Habibiz Cafe in Winnipeg on Monday. (Alana Cole/CBC)
McKinnon also said there has been an increase in reported hate crimes in Winnipeg over the past two years.
“We cannot be casual bystanders for [these] type of incidents that are happening in our community,” McKinnon said.
“We are all part of this community and we are requesting if you have any information regarding either of these occurrences or any occurrence that you report it to the Winnipeg Police Service.”
Police don’t believe the two recent incidents are connected.
“I understand that this information is going to result in more questions than answers at this time and the frustration that comes with it,” she said. “However … it is still very early in the investigation.”
Insp. Jennifer McKinnon with the Winnipeg Police Service major crimes unit takes questions from reporters on Monday. ( Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)
Reports of suspected hate crimes, including vandalism, can be made to WPS at the non-emergency line 204-986-6222 or online through Crime Stoppers.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham denounced both incidents on social media, with Gillingham saying “an attack on a place of worship or a local family business is an attack on the safety of every citizen.”
WATCH | Winnipeg café target of vandalism, hate crime, says owner:
Winnipeg café target of vandalism, hate crime, says owner
Winnipeg police’s hate crimes unit is investigating after windows at Habibiz Cafe on Portage Avenue were smashed early Sunday morning. A note, which said in part “leave our country,” was found outside, says the owner.