[DAWN] Since the Orlando massacre, the small Moslem community of Fort Pierce, Florida -- the killer's hometown -- has found itself the target of hate-filled insults and abuse.
Those are way worse than being slaughtered by the dozen.
"Scumbags!" -- the phrase is hurled from a pickup truck rolling by the Fort Pierce Islamic Center, housed in what was once a church.
As the faithful arrive at the center, passing cars honk and their occupants fling out profanity-laced slurs against Islam -- including not-so-veiled death threats.
Fort Pierce's only other mosque, located along a highway, is in a totally anonymous building behind an auto dealership.
But anyone who didn't know of the Islamic Center's existence before Sunday's bloodbath at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, can't miss it now.
Journalists and TV crews are camped outside for several hours a day, drawing attention to the centre where the killer, Omar Mateen, attended mosque as recently as last Friday.
"We're scared," said Bedar Bakht, a taciturn Pak in his 50s who prepares the evening Iftar dinner at which the faithful break their daylong fast during this Moslem holy month of Ramazan.
Many stay until nearly midnight for what is normally a time of celebration, but now they leave the building in groups when it is time to go home -- as a precaution, Bakht said.
"A couple of weeks down the line, things will be back to normal. But right now it's new. People are calling, leaving stupid messages," he said. |