News / Society

US mosques increase security amid growing safety concerns

Monday, 14 December 2015 2:33 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 December 2015 2:33 PM ]

A Fairfax County police officer controls traffic across the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia.

Mosques around the United States are carefully increasing security amid growing concerns of hate crimes against American Muslims following the mass shootings in California and Paris.

The increasing safety measures at Islamic centers include hiring armed guards and working with law enforcement agencies to prevent attacks on Muslim worshippers.

At the East Plano Islamic Center near Dallas, Texas, Nadim Bashir, the imam, said the mosque had hired an armed security guard ever since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. "We're just trying to ramp up our efforts in the community and get a better name," said Bashir.

A mosque in Corona, California, a working-class suburb of Los Angeles, has spent $10,000 over the past two weeks to increase security.

Some mosques like the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia say they have struggled to hire and keep security guards.

"Security guards resigned because they were fearful of getting hurt in the backlash," said Rizwan Jaka, chairman of the mosque.

The mosque has now hired armed guards and the imam of the mosque, Mohamed Magid, said security had been increased for programs in which children take part. "We are concerned about the feeling in the larger community about Muslims," he said.

The increased security comes as Muslim Americans struggle with the fallout from the attack in San Bernardino, California, and terror attacks in Paris.

The call by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to ban Muslims from entering the United States only intensified anti-Muslim sentiments and Islamophobia across the country.

"It's getting to a point where you have to hide who you are," Mohammad Halisi, a worshiper, said on Friday night at the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco mosque in California, where Muslim leaders and law enforcement officials met to address problems of the Muslim community.

The mosque is just 25 miles (40 km) from San Bernardino, where US-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his Pakistani-born wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire on his co-workers on December 2, killing 14 people.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk