ECAJ statement on desecration of the Hindu temples at Florey and Mawson in Canberra on Saturday, 26 October.

The ECAJ is alarmed and saddened to hear of the delib­er­ate targeting of two Hindu temples in Canberra; the wanton destruc­tion of the community’s sacred idols and other items; and the theft of char­it­able donations. These hateful and cal­cu­lated crimes were per­pet­rated by uniden­ti­fied members of the public in advance of the Hindu festival of Diwali and are the latest in a series of targeted attacks against the temples.

The aftermath of the incidents evidences an intention to not only steal from the temples, but also to attack the Hindu culture by breaking the Shiva Lingam, the deity of Lord Shiva.

The ECAJ urges members of the public to come forward, and hopes that the police will take all necessary steps to identify the per­pet­rat­ors and hold them to account.

ECAJ co-CEO, Peter Wertheim said:

Such hate-filled desec­ra­tion of the holy sites of our friends, the Hindu community, has no place in mul­ti­cul­tur­al Australia.

At this difficult time, when social cohesion is under threat and peace-loving Aus­trali­ans are being targeted solely on the basis of their racial or religious identity, we wish to express our deepest solid­ar­ity with the Hindu community. We extend our offer to assist in any way we can to help the Hindu community overcome the effects of this attack.