00:00Friday prayers go ahead as planned at Lakemba Mosque in South West Sydney, but not without
00:12a sense of unease.
00:14We've got elderly who won't come to the mosque at the moment because they're too scared to
00:17walk to the mosque and it's not fair, I mean everyone has a right to pray and feel protected.
00:23In the middle of Ramadan, the Lakemba Mosque's TikTok account has been the subject of three
00:29online threats and earlier this month, one of those accounts posted a similar threatening
00:34remark, targeting the nearby mosque in Padstow.
00:38All four comments referenced the 2019 Christchurch terror attack, where 51 people were killed.
00:45To make a reference to it, I find so callous, but again, we're a resilient bunch, we've
00:50lived through all these events.
00:52As their investigation continues, police have stepped up patrols in the area.
00:58And it shouldn't be like that, you know, we live in the best country in the world and
01:00people have the right to practice their faith in peace and at the moment that's being tested.
01:06Here in Lakemba, many Muslim community members tell me they feel that rising Islamophobia
01:12has been left unchecked over the last year and a half and therefore allowed to escalate.
01:19It comes after a 16-year-old from West Australia was charged over a similar threat to a mosque
01:25in Edmondson Park earlier this month.
01:28The Islamophobia Register says there's been a 500% increase in anti-Muslim incidents in
01:34Australia since October 2023.
01:37The track record is very clear.
01:39We will not tolerate this kind of hatred in our community and we'll do everything we can
01:44to ensure the full force of the law is applied.
01:47The Premier placing his faith in police so the Muslim community can practice theirs without
01:53fear.
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