Friday 2nd October: Approximately 5:30 p.m., bricks were thrown at the windows of Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Dham located in the Richmond Heights area of Cleveland (USA). Several devotees were present at the time of the attack which sent shards of glass flying into the temple building. Thankfully no one was harmed.
Richmond Heights Police Department remarked, “There’s no evidence that suggests there’s any hate motivation or racial motivation or religious motivation.” Responding to the attack Suhag Shukla from the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), explained, “This is real now. Online hate has morphed into a real-world attack on a Hindu temple.”
This incident comes at a time of rising hate and racism in the USA targeted at South Asians, which often singles out Hindus. The Center for the Study of Organized Hate recently carried out a study where they documented a “sharp and sustained rise in anti-South Asian hate”. The report noted this recent rise in hate is driven by hateful rhetoric, xenophobic nationalism, economic resentment and digital amplification.
Since the attack, the temple has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $25,000 for repairs and enhanced security.