Cops investigating after pig’s head left outside Quebec City mosque

QUEBEC – At least two prominent politicians have blasted whoever left a pig’s head outside a mosque in Quebec City over the weekend.

Premier Philippe Couillard described it as a “despicable” act, while Mayor Regis Labeaume called the perpetrator a “cretin.”

“We want to live in peace, we want to live in harmony,” Couillard said in Montreal on Monday. “Everybody’s entitled to follow their own convictions and their own religion.

“It speaks unfortunately of the hatred and the intolerance that exist in our society. Fortunately, it’s a small minority of people, I’m sure, but it’s something that should be condemned very very strongly…It’s despicable.”

Labeaume said Muslims are “Quebec citizens. They are a part of us, of our community.”

The animal’s head was left outside an Islamic cultural centre that is home to a mosque.

According to photos published on Facebook by the cultural centre, the head was wrapped in transparent plastic tied with blue and white ribbons, with a note reading, “Bonne appetit (sic).”

Many Muslims don’t eat pork due to their religious beliefs.

Police are investigating the incident, which occurred in the middle of Ramadan, when some Muslims fast from dawn to sunset.