Police never determined who placed a pile of pork bones in front of the doors of a mosque on Vídeňská Street in Brno just before the Christmas holidays last year. The perpetrator of the offensive vandalism spread lard on the door handle and hung a piece of pork flesh on it as well.
Pavel Šváb, spokesperson for the Police of the Czech Republic, said today that detectives have shelved the case. Muslims perceive the incident as an affront.
The Islamic faith forbids the consumption of pork, which it considers unclean. "We did not succeed in finding the perpetrator. The case has been shelved. If we discover new information, we will reopen it," Šváb said.
A Brno-based Islamic foundation filed a criminal report in the matter. The police spokesperson said the incident would most probably be considered a misdemeanor offense against civil coexistence for which the perpetrator could be fined as much as CZK 5 000.
The Muslim community hoped police would apprehend the perpetrator. A security camera on the mosque partially caught him in the act.
However, the footage was not enough to identify the man. Representatives of the Muslim community in Brno say the case is clear proof of the hatred felt by extremists against Islamic worshipers.
The Muslim community was so angered by the incident that they decided to leave the bones in front of the mosque for several hours with a sign on them reading "This is an example of tolerance". The community believes the perpetrator should be criminally prosecuted for disseminating xenophobia, not just charged with a mere misdemeanor.
The mosque in Brno opened more than 10 years ago as the first house of worship of its kind in the Czech Republic. It has previously been attacked several times by unidentified perpetrators who have broken its glass doors and windows and graffittied it.
