Ohio: A Hindu temple in Ohio’s Greater Cleveland area was vandalised with bricks on Friday afternoon, October 2, while priests and devotees were inside the premises, damaging the building and shattering windows, according to Hindu advocacy organisations.
The incident took place at the Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Dham Hindu Mandir in Richmond Heights at around 1:30 p.m., the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) said. Bricks were reportedly thrown at the temple, causing significant property damage.
Surveillance footage from the incident is available and is being reviewed by authorities, HAF said. The organisation added that it was in contact with temple leaders and providing assistance following the attack. The FBI and civil rights authorities have also been alerted.
There was no immediate official report confirming injuries among the priests or devotees who were inside the temple when the incident occurred.
The Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) condemned the vandalism and called on Richmond Heights Mayor Kim Thomas and local authorities to publicly denounce the incident and ensure swift police action.
HAF described the incident as a possible hate crime, while CoHNA referred to it as a fresh incident of alleged anti Hindu hostility. However, authorities have not publicly established the motive behind the attack, and no suspect or arrest had been publicly identified in the latest reports.
The incident comes as Hindu communities in Ohio prepare for Hindu Heritage Month activities and the upcoming Navratri celebrations. It also occurred on October 2, around the time of commemorations associated with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.
HAF Executive Director Suhag Shukla called for the surveillance footage to be reviewed and the perpetrator or perpetrators to be identified.
The Ohio incident has also revived attention around earlier attacks and vandalism involving Hindu religious sites in the United States. CoHNA has cited damage to a Mahatma Gandhi statue at Shri Tulsi Mandir in Queens in August 2022, hateful graffiti at the SMVS Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Newark, California, in December 2023, and vandalism at BAPS temples in New York and California in 2024. A BAPS temple in Chino Hills, California, was also reportedly defaced in March 2025.
For now, the Richmond Heights investigation remains ongoing, with authorities examining available surveillance footage and working to determine who was responsible and whether the attack had a religious or other motive.
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