Another anti-Islam protest to be held outside Phoenix mosque
Oct 9, 2015, 10:22 AM
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
PHOENIX — Anti-Islamic demonstrators are again planning to protest outside a Phoenix mosque Saturday as a part of a nationwide rally.
Organizers have named the event the Global Rally for Humanity, but Muslim leaders in Arizona are calling it a hate-fueled event.
“The community is confounded with respect as to why this guy insists to show his bigotry — him and his group,” Usama Shami, president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said.
The protest is scheduled to take place at 9 a.m. outside of the Islamic Community Center near Northern and 27th avenues. The same mosque was the scene of a protest in May.
Shami said he has faith there will be a peaceful ending to the protest, but believes the protesters are more interested in preaching hate than anything else.
“Everybody sees that this is bigotry and racism,” he said. “Nobody is fooled.”
A description of the rally on the event’s Facebook page refers to the protest as a way to stand up to the “anti-human tyranny of Islam.”
About 500 people — 250 on each side — attended the May protest. Though tempers flared, no injuries or arrests were reported.
The May protest came about month after a shootout outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest in a Dallas suburb. Two Phoenix men showed up at the event with assault rifles and were killed by police. The men formerly worshipped at the Phoenix mosque.
See a photo gallery of the May protest below.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.