Scattered Bacon At NY Ramadan Festival Investigated As Hate Crime

As Muslims in New York gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan, a religious period of fasting for the Muslim faith, organizers of a festival report that someone attempted to mar the celebration by scattering bacon around the grounds in what is now being investigated as a hate crime.

NBC News reports that the bacon used in the alleged hate crime was found on a section of John D’Amato Field, in New Dorp, Staten Island. Those in attendance were celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The 1,500 or so at the event were not informed by organizers until after the celebration was complete so festivities were not interrupted.

The Wall Street Journal reports that three packages of bacon were found, and the NBC report adds that police also found a note signed by someone using a code name with references to a website. What name was signed and what website was referenced was not made clear. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations did post an excerpt from a possibly related internet posting that read, “I am going to walk my pet pig and i am gonna let him (defecate) ….just in time for morning prayers.”

The reason it is being investigated as a hate crime involves the dietary restrictions of observant Muslims, who are forbidden to eat pork. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sun up to sun down. The council said that pork is often used to offend or taunt Muslims.

Police investigation of the bacon-related hate crime took place before the Eid services marking the end of Ramadan began.