Right-Wing Hysteria Explodes as American Mosques Face Angry Protests and Hate Over Past Week

Since the attacks in Paris, Islamophobia has increased in the European Union, with a 300 percent increase in hate attacks against Muslims in the United Kingdom. But this wave of hate is also taking place on the other side of the Atlantic, in the U.S.

Here's a roundup of recent incidents.

Connecticut: Someone shot at the Baitul Aman mosque in Meriden, leaving its exterior riddled with bullet holes. No one was hurt.

Virginia: In Fairfax County, a man left a hoax explosive device outside a mosque. And in Spotsylvania, local Muslims presenting a plan for a mosque were met with angry protests, including a muscular man who screamed at the presenters, telling them to shut up. “Every Muslim is a terrorist,” he frothed. 

Watch the footage of the meeting below:

Texas: In Pflugerville, a mosque was vandalized with a torn-up Quran covered in feces found outside. A seven-year old boy responded to the vandalism by giving the contents of his piggy bank to the mosque. In Irving, a group of armed men (and Ted Cruz supporters) showed up outside a mosque to protest the “Islamization of America.”

Wyoming: In Gillete, militia members visited one of the four mosques in the state, seeking to inspect it for signs of radicalism.

Showing Tolerance

Though mosques have been facing hate, they have been responding with tolerance. The Mubarak Mosque in Chantilly, Virginia, held a blood drive to respond to the violence of the Paris attacks.

“We wanted to bring them together to commemorate the loss through action and in a way respond with action to the terrorists—that however many lives they will try to take from us, we will try to save more lives than they will ever take,” said Iman Rizwan Khan. "In this way, where there are a very small minority of extremist Muslims who are trying to take the lives of people, we wish to represent the peaceful and moderate Muslim majority who are here trying to save lives and are trying to promote and establish the peaceful teachings of Islam.”