A PROMINENT YES campaigner in the recent marriage referendum has had his and his family’s cars covered in acid.
Riyadh Khalaf, a presenter and producer with Spin 103.8 FM, was one of the most prominent Irish voices on the Yes side over the course of the campaign.
He woke up yesterday morning in his home in Bray, Co Wicklow, to find that his family’s cars had been covered in a corrosive substance believed to be acid.
Gardaí investigating the attack told Khalaf that while “they aren’t ruling anyone in or out at the moment, they think it’s most likely a result of how prominent we all were during the campaign”.
“It was a malicious act on my family alone,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.
My car was given to me by my grandmother after she passed away so it hurts to see the damage, but at the end of the day folks.. We won, we have equality and Ireland is a more loving and inclusive place.
Riyadh added that he plans to install security cameras on the property “today.. just in case”.
“The only obvious culprit would be someone who was anti our campaign,” he told TheJournal.ie.
Someone who didn’t like how public me and my family were about how we felt.
All I can say is, if it is someone who was anti the Yes campaign, well then what a waste of your time because we’ve won. If you were going to do something like this you should have done it before.
Who knows, maybe it took them this long to find out where we are.
Bray gardaí have been consulting neighbours with cctv security around their properties to see if any traces of the culprits can be found. They have also utilised a forensics expert who made a detailed examination of the scene.
I’m just a guy who had an opinion, of course I was going to speak up.
Khalaf was to the forefront of much of what the Yes campaign did in recent months, particularly internationally where he made appearances on the BBC, CNN, NBC, and in the Guardian.
He also directed a self-made viral video at the ultra-conservative Westboro Baptist Church in the US.
I’m still happy I did everything I did. If anything this will bring us closer as a family, because everything we did we did for a reason.
I don’t mind someone disagreeing with me, but when it leaves online hatred and hits your front door, well than that’s just barbaric and makes me feel very uncomfortable.
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