VANDALS have targeted the cars of a prominent Victorian Islamic leader and his wife in an attack on their Melbourne property. Police are investigating after the front and rear windscreens of Ford sedans, parked in the driveway of the northern suburbs home of Yasser Soliman and his wife, were smashed overnight.
Mr Soliman, who is a member of the Federal Government's Muslim Community Reference Group, discovered the damage as his wife prepared their children for school this morning. But he said neighbours had reported hearing noises and seeing a group of people jump out of a car in the street about midnight.
He said state and federal police had fingerprinted the cars and conducted a doorknock in the street, but he had told ASIO in case of more attacks on Islamic leaders.
Mr Soliman was at a loss to explain the attacks. "It's hard to know what the message or motivation is," he said. "They chose to walk up the driveway and attack both cars so they're sending some sort of message but I'm at a loss to identify what it is.
"The damage in terms of peace and harmony in the street and suburb and concern it causes certainly does have a greater cost."
Mr Soliman said the attacks coincided with email threats received by other members of the Islamic Community of Victoria in the past fortnight urging them to leave the country. While he could not pinpoint the motivation of the attacks he said recent reports portraying Muslims negatively, including controversy over a bid by a Melbourne Muslim girl to enter a beauty contest and Muslim parents removing children from music classes because of cultural clashes, were concerning.
Mr Soliman said he contacted the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Robb, and asked him to meet sections of the media to address the concerns. |