Alice Springs mosque pleads for help after constant rock attacks

Alice Springs’ only mosque is under siege by youths who have been throwing bottles of liquor and rocks at the building for more than a year. Read how they are coping.

Members of the Alice Springs Muslim community are planning to pack their bags and leave town if nothing is done about rampant rock-throwing directed at their only mosque.

Alice Springs Islamic Society vice president Syed Ali said the same group of four to five youths had been harassing the mosque for more than a year, throwing rocks and bottles of liquor at the community at any time of day or night.

“It’s the same group throwing the rocks every single day, every single night, throwing rocks at the mosque,” Mr Ali said.

“They’ve broken all our solar panels, they’ve broken my car, they’ve broken other members of the community’s cars every day.

Alice Springs Islamic Society vice president Syed Ali with one of the rocks thrown at the mosque. Mr Ali says the rock attacks are “like rain” and have hurt members of the community including children.

“They are throwing alcohol bottles at the driveway, we don’t drink alcohol as it’s prohibited in Islam and they were throwing bottles at us and on the mosque fence, breaking the mosque fence.

“The last two weeks it has really escalated.

“On Saturday we had a big feast, the kids were there throwing rocks like rain, and a few of the kids at the mosque got hurt.

“It’s just unstoppable.”

Mr Ali said he had begun to tell members of the community to not visit the mosque as he was worried about people getting hurt.

He said the attacks got so bad that last year the mosque’s Imam left the town, as it was no longer safe for himself and his family after his wife received a minor injury following rocks being thrown at the mosque.

Multiple cars have had their windshields broken due to rocks being thrown at the mosque.

“We recently got an Imam five weeks ago for the Ramadan and he lives in the mosque.

“He is seeing these things and saying he cannot bring his family here because it’s unsafe for the kids and his family to live in the mosque.”

Mr Ali believes more members of the community will leave if the damage continues.

“The doctors, the nurses, they’re telling these stories every single day, and there are discussions going on that many members of my community are going to leave Alice Springs as soon as possible, as soon as they can,” he said.

“You can’t believe how fearful we are in this situation.”

The mosque had contacted the police on multiple occasions, with about 25 members of the community visiting the police station last year in an attempt to get action.

Mr Ali said after the inaction it was looking at fundraising $25,000 for fencing around the entire mosque, on top of the $15,000 the mosque had already spent installing an electronic gate to prevent intruders entering.

He said over the weekend the community had to chase down one of the offenders themselves in an attempt to stop the attacks.

“We have tried every single avenue to work it out but it gets worse and worse every day,” he said

Last month, Namatjira MLA Bill Yan called for urgent targeted action on rock throwers. Pictured are youth outside a residents house in Larapinta.

Last month, Namatjira MLA Bill Yan called for urgent targeted action by the government towards rock throwers in Alice Springs.

It followed a local tow-truck driver losing sight in one eye after a rock was thrown at him on a late night job.

Mr Yan said rock throwing had been escalating, with Lyndavale Dr, where the mosque is located, a known area where incidents were occurring.

“It’s not just cars either, there’s people that live along Lyndavale Dr, their car windows are smashed in their driveways, windows of housing units are being smashed by rocks, all their solar panels on the roofs of their houses are smashed by rocks,” he said.

NT police have been contacted for comment.