After anti-Israel protesters stormed a town hall meeting and Jewish students were forcibly removed from the premises, the Rutgers University Center for Islamic Life was looted and vandalized the next night.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a video online depicting smashed glass, broken TVs, printers, and artwork, including Quranic texts.
Imam Kaiser Aslam of CILRU, who posted a video of the scene following the break-in, reported that a Palestinian flag had been pulled off its pole. The criminal act occurred between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Rutgers Police Department.
Officials said nobody was inside the building when it happened. The event, which was part of a three-day celebration after the month of fasting known as Ramadan, took place on the evening of Eid al-Fitr.
The news of the event “disgusted” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
He said to protect Muslim students, they are cooperating with Rutgers University and the police in their ongoing criminal investigation. He wrote on X that Islamophobia is utterly unacceptable in New Jersey.
The Garden State vandalism was brought to the attention of Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. He made it clear that acts of hate against the Muslim community would not go unpunished. According to Platkin, his agency is investigating with many law enforcement agencies.
This happened only days after university president Jonathan Holloway abruptly ended a town hall meeting last week due to protesters’ disruption of the event.
Police were forced to remove Jewish kids from the event, according to a student who was in attendance.
Rutgers University Student Assembly organized the town hall and held a referendum on cutting relations with Tel Aviv University and divesting from everything associated with Israel as part of the boycott, divest, and sanction movement.
Then, the Islamic Center on campus was vandalized. The Rutgers police have identified no culprits.
