Unknown vandals threw a brick and large rock through the two main windows of Congregation Beth Ora in St. Laurent, prompting fresh calls for a hate crimes unit to be established by Montreal police.

Jewish community officials shied away from explicitly characterizing the vandalism – which took place on the evening of Oct. 11 – as hate-motivated or anti-Semitic, since no graffiti or note indicating as much was left behind.

Large holes in the two large glass panes several feet above the 50-year-old Orthodox synagogue’s main entrance doors on Badeaux Street appeared to suggest that the projectiles were heaved with some force.

But even without evidence as to motive, said Steven Slimovitch, national legal counsel for B’nai Brith Canada, the incident should still be investigated as anti-Semitic until proven otherwise.

If Montreal police had a hate crime unit, he said, that could be done.

(Source: CJN)