The Islamic School of Rhode Island in West Warwick was vandalized over the weekend with offensive graffiti and racial slurs.
The school was defaced with spray-painted anti-Muslim messages, including statements such as "Allah is a pedophile" and "Now this is a hate crime," on Saturday night, the Associated Press reported. The FBI's Boston division launched a civil rights investigation into the vandalism on Monday.
"The West Warwick police department came to the school and investigated. The FBI is also continuing the investigation," Abdelnasser Hussein, principal of the school, told Newsweek in a phone interview.
"I am really worried, not just because of what happened here, but because of what is happening around the entire nation," the principal explained. "There is a wave of hatred against Islam and Muslims."
The West Warwick private school, with 160 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, mostly had its doors and entrance area covered with the offensive graffiti. Specifically, the front entrance had been tagged with orange graffiti that read "Now this is a hate crime," "pigs" and offensive references to Muhammad, according to school officials.
On Sunday, a community member who was hosting prayer services in the school discovered the graffiti on two sides of the building and notified the school's Board of Trustees, who then contacted local authorities.
Since it opened in 2003, the school had never before been the subject of vandalism or any serious threats, said Hilmy Bakri, president of the school's board of trustees.
The "shameful incident" is at odds with the state's founding principle of religious liberty, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse added.
Currently, the school is on winter break and students will not return to class until Feb. 23. However since the graffiti will not be removed until the police investigation is complete, Hussein hopes it will occur before students return.
Meanwhile, a news conference has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday with community leaders from other faiths and government officials to show solidarity, according to The Boston Globe.
Last week, three Muslim college students were killed by a neighbor in North Carolina. Even though the murder suspect's wife has claimed that the victims were killed during a parking dispute, fears of it being a hate crime have been raised.
In another instance, an Islamic center was burned down in Texas, with a homeless man being charged for the arson.
