Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia(Photo: Google screen shot)
A severed pig's head tossed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>outside a Philadelphia mosque has upset residents of multiple faiths<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and prompted federal and city investigations.
Pigs are considered unclean in Islamic culture and pork is not eaten by most practicing Muslims.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Mayor-elect Jim Kenney quickly condemned the "bigotry that desecrated"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Al-Aqsa Islamic Society building Sunday night.
“The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has a long history of coming together in the face of challenge," Kenney said. "We cannot allow hate to divide us now, in the face of unprecedented difficulties. I ask all Philadelphians to join me in rejecting this despicable act and supporting our Muslim neighbors.”
Surveillance video shows a red pickup drive slowly past the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>mosque<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sunday night, then returning a few minutes later,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Philly.com reported. On a second pass, something tossed out the passenger-side window rolls to a stop at the door of the mosque, the website says.
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The desecration comes as Muslims face heightened scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad after deadly militant attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump this week called for a banning Muslims from entering the country.
Marwan Kreidie, head of the Arab American Development Corp., told the website that the FBI was investigating the pig's head incident. Kreidie said anti-Muslim sentiment is "worse now" than after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"We didn't have this kind of reaction, nobody threw a pig's head," she told Philly.com. "A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pig's head doesn't do much. Could the next thing be a pipe bomb?"
The city Human Rights Commission is also investigating, as is the Police Department.
"We've got to be involved," Officer Pete Berndlmaier told Philly.com. "If they get away doing something like that, they are going to up the ante."
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