The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the apparent destruction of Islamic prayer mats and Quran translations in the wake of yesterday’s early morning raid at an anti-genocide encampment at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
A series of photographs sent to CAIR show what appears to be Islamic prayer mats being loaded into a garbage truck after police cleared the encampment yesterday morning. According to the person who shared the photos with CAIR, “Students were told by officers that some of the trash should be at Waste Management NE transfer station: 2160 Queen’s Chapel Road Northeast, 20018. Three GW trucks brought items there, but the remaining trash was apparently crushed and taken to a landfill three hours away. Students went there but had no luck finding any prayer mats or Qur’an copies.”
“Muslim students at The George Washington University used these prayer mats to bow in humility before God, read these English translations of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, and shared these and other books with their fellow students. Destroying religious belongings without giving students any opportunity to collect them was unacceptable. George Washington University President Ellen Grandberg and Mayor Muriel Bowser must apologize for destruction of these religious materials, as well as the rest of this unnecessary police raid on students engaged in peaceful protest,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor.
Remarking on student protests on Tuesday CAIR said, in part, “Like the historic student protests against segregation, the Vietnam war and South African apartheid, the sit-ins launched by college students across America have been overwhelmingly peaceful, respectful and diverse–often led by Jewish and Palestinian students engaged in the long American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.”
Saylor noted that CAIR will soon release a report highlighting the hostile environment and targeting by university leadership many Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students have faced.
Previously, CAIR had called on George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to allow medical access and legal observers for an anti-genocide student sit-in in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
SEE: BREAKING: CAIR Calls on George Washington University to Allow Medical Access, Legal Observers for Anti-Genocide Student Protesters
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CONTACT: CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com; CAIR Research and Advocacy Coordinator Farah Afify, 202-742-6410, fafify@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com