A group of citizens who came armed to a protest at an Irving, Texas, mosque earlier this week have released the names and home addresses of dozens of Muslim residents in an online post. The group also targeted “Muslim sympathizers.”
Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature was considering a bill designed to keep Texas courts focused on American laws and to ensure that Sharia law would not be used in the state’s courts. The Irving City Council, on March 19, passed a resolution of support for the proposed legislation, HB 562, Breitbart Texas’ Merrill Hope reported. The council’s resolution passed by a 5-4 vote.
During that city council meeting, supporters and opponents registered to speak at the meeting. The protesters who stood armed outside an Irving mosque on Monday obtained copies of the speaker registration list and then allegedly revealed the contact information of those who registered to speak in opposition to the resolution, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Irving has become the focal point for Islamic relations in Texas. In September, the now infamous “Clock Boy” Ahmed was arrested at an Irving Independent School District high school after bringing what many believe looked like a make-shift briefcase bomb to school, Hope previously reported. The resulting circus brought Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne under fire, once again from the Muslim community. She received multiple death threats over the detention of “Clock Boy” Ahmed.
Irving was also the location of an “Islamic Tribunal,” that Breitbart Texas reported on in January. A group of “Islamic judges” were set up in the tribunal to hear disputes under Sharia Law. It was shortly after this that the outspoken Irving mayor spoke out about the Legislature’s pending legislation.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart’s Lee Stranahan, Vun Duyne spoke out about the Garland terrorist attack where two armed Muslim men attacked the Mohammad Art Exhibit. “As a mayor, our focus needs to be on public safety, and supporting our police and other security personnel. My heart goes out to the wounded officer and his family, and we pray that he’s all right.”
David Wright III copied the documents from the March City Council meeting and published them on Facebook, the Dallas newspaper reported. He also organized the armed protest at the mosque on November 21. He said he was publishing the “name and address of every Muslim and Muslim sympathizer that stood up for … Sharia tribunals in Irving,” the report stated. The list also revealed the names and addresses of those who spoke in favor of the resolution.
One person from the list, Alia Salem, who also serves as executive director of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told the Morning News, “This is the first time I’ve been slightly alarmed. As bad as things have gotten in the past, and especially recently, this is the first time where I see people taking this public.”
“This is my job to deal with this kind of stuff,” she continued. “But for an everyday citizen who was just exerting their First Amendment rights and their right as an American to speak up and speak out, they were just being good citizens to show up and be a part of the democratic process. Now they are targets.”
Wright founded a group called the Bureau on American Islamic Relations. He and others from his group say they carry their guns in self-defense. While he said the group was not attempting to intimidate anyone, they are convinced that America is headed to violent conflict with Muslims. He said he picked the Irving mosque because of threats made against the Irving mayor.
The information posted from the registration list is public record.
A counter-protest is scheduled for this coming Saturday at the Islamic Center to protest Wright’s group and show support for Muslims. “The mosque in Irving receives a lot of hate and ugliness,” Tonya Cadenhead, an Irving resident who is organizing the event, told the Dallas news outlet. The protest begins at noon at the mosque at 2555 Esters Road in Irving.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.