Overview
- At about 11am Sunday, a man entered Masjid Taqwa in Bald Hills and, the mosque director said, claimed he had an AK-47 in his car before worshippers chased him away.
- Police later arrested a 33-year-old Mitchelton man and charged him with creating a public nuisance and disturbing a place of worship, said no one was injured, and listed his court date for May 22.
- No firearms charges were laid and police have not reported finding a weapon.
- The disturbing-a-place-of-worship count sits under Queensland laws updated on March 11 that increased penalties for harassment and intimidation at religious sites.
- The mosque was defaced in December with a swastika and anti-Muslim slurs, and local MP Bisma Asif said weak political leadership has emboldened Islamophobia.