Quebec City mosque opens doors to reveal traces of carnage that occurred inside

It's no longer an official crime scene, but the marks of what happened at a Quebec City mosque Sunday are everywhere.

There are blood stains on the beige- and turquoise-striped carpet, where men knelt in prayer. The cream-coloured walls are riddled with bullet holes and splattered with blood.

The abandoned pairs of shoes and winter boots, removed beforeprayers, sitside by side on the floor.

While the mosque hasn't officially reopened, members of the Centre Culturel Islamique de Qubec returned for the first time since a gunman opened fire inside, killing six men and wounding 19 others.

They decided to open their doors to reportersso Canadians across the country would get a visceral sense of the horror that had taken place inside.

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"We're showing these images so that people who try to sow hateand increase Islamophobiastop," said the centre's vice-president,Mohamed Labidi, as he stood in the prayer room.

"Hate can lead to carnage, to the loss of innocent life, and that's what happened in this mosque."

Where a hero died

Labidi joined other members of the mosque Wednesday morning, sharing stories of what happened inside, pointing to the spots where their friends and family members were gunned down.

They pointed to one spot, where the blood is more thickly clotted than in the myriad other spots where it's found in the mosque.That's whereAzzeddineSoufiane,the owner of ahalalgrocery store,died Sunday night.

Soufiane was safely hidden during theinitial moments of the rampage, said witnesses, but heemerged to try tostop the gunman.

"He threw himself to stop the shooter and protect other victims at the same time," said RachidAoume,Soufiane's brother-in-law, who watched the scene from the front of the prayer room.

"At that moment, he got shot. Then he got shot once more as he was lying on the ground."

GRAPHIC WARNING: 1st images from inside Qubec mosque

8 years ago

Duration 0:54

Bullet holes, bloody carpets remain at scene of massacre

The mosque has also posted on Facebook several videos of the interior, taken just after police finished processing the scene.

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'We won't go away'

Over the course of Wednesday morning, members of the mosque dropped by to pay their respects, chat, embrace and share their stories inside the space they are determined to reclaim.

Many broke into tears upon entering the downstairs prayer room.

Mohamed Labidi describes how Azzedine Soufiane tried to tackle Quebec City mosque shooter

8 years ago

Duration 1:26

Mohamed Labidi describes how Azzedine Soufiane tried to tackle the shooter at the site of the Quebec City mosque attack.

AhmedElrefai, one of the mosque's administrators, acknowledged that for some, it will take time until theyare ready to pray again at the mosque.

But he said he and his fellow administrators are planningto do renovations and change the look of the space. They are moving forward.

"We are all Canadians," Elrefai said. "We live in Quebec so we are Qubcois, and we're going to stay here, and this is our message to people."

Negi Gadab was among a handful of people who attended prayers Wednesday morning.

It wasn't easy for him to return, he said. He lost people he considered to be closefriends in the shootingbut said life must go on.

"The mosque must reopen," he said. "We must say to terrorists that we're here and we won't go away. We don't want them to attain their goal:that we stop praying."

Amel Henchiri said she returned to the mosque, a place that she said was often full of kids, life and unbridled joy, to face the pain.

"Before the shooting, this was our place of worship," she said, tears in her eyes. "It was our place of peace. But today, it will remind us thathumans make mistakes. It will remind us that there are people in the world who don't accept difference.

"In spite of the pain, it's our right to be here."

Showing solidarity

It wasn't only members of the mosquewho came by to express their solidarity. Several non-Muslims, moved by the tragedy, also felt the need to visit and show support.

NormandMorneau came with his wife and handed over a $100 chequeto the leaders of the mosque.

"It's important for the [Muslim] community to stay in Quebec City. That's important to us. We share the community," Morneau said.

When Claude Carrier, a retired university professor who lives nearby, entered the mosque, he extended his hand to the first member of the mosque he came across. He was given a warm hug in return.

"I just came to say you are our friends, you are our neighbours, our colleagues. You are part of us," he said. "I haven't stopped crying since it happened."

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