00:00An incidente inside this Costco has led to an investigation by Halifax Police
00:04and condemnation by members of the local Muslim community.
00:07A video on social media shows a man inside the store
00:10being aggressive to women wearing hijabs, yelling racial insults,
00:15assaulting another customer and uttering death threats.
00:18You f***ing f***ing. We're killing every f***ing one of you.
00:22To see a family enjoying their daily life as any other Haligonian,
00:28going to the grocery store and being called out
00:32because of wearing a piece of cloth in her hair
00:36and in the middle of the people.
00:40And that's horrible and that's unacceptable.
00:44Duh Ali says he felt heartbroken when he first watched the video,
00:47but unfortunately it's becoming more common for Muslims to face harassment
00:50and sometimes violence.
00:52It's not one incident. It's a rising incident.
00:55And this is a pure Muslim hate.
00:58According to data from Halifax Regional Police and RCMP,
01:01hate crimes have been on the rise in recent years.
01:04Halifax Police say hate is believed to be a motivating factor in this incident at Costco
01:08and are asking for the public's help to identify the man.
01:11Any incident that we determine are believed to be motivated by hate,
01:16we will obviously investigate to the fullest.
01:19Again, as I mentioned, we'll be bringing our hate crimes unit
01:24and have them bring their expertise to the investigation
01:27and then go from there.
01:29The imam at the Uma Mosque is focusing on the silver lining of this incident.
01:34He says he wants to thank people at Costco who stood up to the man.
01:38Same time, we feel sorry for him.
01:40Like, you know, what pushed him to do that is completely misinformed.
01:45So I want to as well extend that invitation.
01:49Come to our mosque. Ask.
01:50Whatever you have any questions, we don't have barrier on what should you ask
01:53and what should you not ask.
01:55Come and ask whatever you want.
01:57Omar says he welcomes anyone into his mosque because Nova Scotia welcomed him.
02:02And he knows most Nova Scotians don't feel the same way as the man at Costco.
02:07Josh Hoffman, CBC News, Halifax.
