On Monday, police were called to a Stockholm mosque where they found what looked like pig’s feet on the floor. Ulf Lindgren, a spokesperson for the city’s police force said that as Muslims consider pork is unclean, officers had classified the incident as vandalism.
The spokesperson said that although the offending objects looked like part of a pig, investigators were keeping an open mind until the experts had passed their opinion. According to the Local, the vandals broke the windows on the front door of the mosque before tossing the pig’s trotters inside.
Responding to an emergency call, police arrived at the Fittja District a little after 11:00 on Monday. Officers questioned mosque officials and local residents, but they all stated that they had not witnessed the break-in and had no idea who might have done it.
Mr Lindgren did add that as Swedes traditionally ate pig’s trotters during the Christmas festive season it might be hard to find out where the offending objects had come from. Since it was built in 2007, Fittja Mosque has garnered 1,500 members. The mosque found itself at the centre of a controversy in April this year when it staged the first ever public calls to prayer in the country.
The landmark call followed a decision by council officials the previous September which lifted a 1994 ban on prayer calls. Local police allowed the call to go ahead, provided that it lasted no longer than five minutes and was staged between noon and 13:00 on Fridays.