Mosque to install security cameras

Community members watch as glazier Kelly Melrose repairs a window at the Avondale Islamic Centre. Picture / Kenny Rodger

One of the Auckland mosques attacked on Sunday night will be fitted with security cameras.

Faruk Khan, president of the South Auckland Muslim Association, said the mosque had been planning to install the cameras for several months but the recent events meant they would be installed in the next couple of days.

Vandals smashed windows and doors of mosques in Ponsonby, Mt Roskill, Blockhouse Bay, Ranui and two in Otahuhu on Sunday.

They defaced walls facing the street in large black letters with variations of "RIP London", in apparent retaliation for the London bombings.

No evidence remained yesterday of the attack at the Ponsonby mosque. Graffiti had been covered and broken windows replaced.

In Blockhouse Bay, workers were busy replacing nine broken panes while worshippers were going about their normal routine. The "RIP" graffiti remained.

Four men were sleeping in the hall at the Avondale Islamic Centre when it was hit. One said they woke when they heard the windows break but were unable to get outside in time to see the vandals.

"The whole thing happened so fast."

Glaziers were repairing the damage to 32 windows at the Masjid Al-Mustafa mosque in Otahuhu yesterday afternoon, including six laminated doors costing $500 each.

The glaziers estimate the cost of repairs at the Otahuhu mosque to be around $8000.

Mufti Ishak Koshiya from the Ranui mosque received a card condemning the "scurrilous" attack and a $20 donation from an "anonymous Christian".

Meanwhile police are investigating whether one group was behind all the attacks.

Detective Inspector Stu Allsop-Smith, who is heading the inquiry, said staff were collating information about the damage and the timing of the vandalism, which may help identify suspects.

"I think most people realise that the sort of person or persons who would do acts such as this are probably somewhat extremists and there's no justification in marginalising ethnic minority groups for something that happened on the other side of the world."

Ataur Rahman, the honorary consul for Bangladesh and a community spokesman, called for those responsible for the vandalism to stand up and claim responsibility.

"These acts of taking it out on buildings is the act of brain-dead people, and what it would achieve I have no idea."

Mr Rahman, who described himself as a Muslim married to a Presbyterian and with a Mormon son, said that there was an "undercurrent of the National Front element" in New Zealand and that the London bombings had triggered an attack on people already feeling insecure.

"I'm sure this is going to frighten a lot of migrants who feel different, who look different."

Mr Rahman said word of the local backlash had spread around the world. "All sections of the community should be outraged.

"[Those responsible] should say why they did it.

"Where are these faceless idiots who have done it?

"They're no better than the other faceless bombers who blew up the trains and the bus."

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said that the desecration of mosques was a misdirected way of expressing anger and that local Muslims had become innocent victims of the London bombings.

Any information about the mosque attacks can be reported to police on (09) 259-1071.