The Surete du Quebec has arrested a 38-year-old man after a newly-built Sept-Iles Muslim cultural centre was vandalized earlier this week.
The Sept-Iles resident turned himself into police. He was released on a promise to appear in court in six to eight weeks on charges of break and entry and mischief.
Nizar Aouini posted photos to Facebook showing the ransacked building, which suffered several thousand dollars in damage. Plants were spilled all over the floor, a bookshelf was smashed and a computer screen was knocked over and holes were made in the wall. He said he believed it was a hate crime.
This is the second time the same mosque has been targeted - construction and materials were ransacked while it was being built.
The SQ said, however, they don't believe the acts that took place inside the cultural centre on Brochu St. were a hate crime.
The man who turned himself in told police he had been drinking in a bar next door to the mosque before the attack and left drunk and blacked out.
Aouini said he was shocked to see the damage when he visited the centre Tuesday for evening prayers.
A member of the Muslim community in Sept-Iles, he also said he felt moved by the support he has received from people in the town, on Quebec's upper north shore.
Sept-Iles Mayor Rejean Porlier said people in the community have no problem with the mosque.
"For me it's an isolated act. If I can attribute it to something, it can be ignorance," he said.
With files from La Presse Canadienne
