Ramadan service organizers find bacon bits

Muslims gathering to celebrate the end of Ramadan at a New York City park found uncooked bacon scattered around, and police are investigating it as a possible bias crime.

Organizers say the bacon pieces were found in a small section of the New Dorp Beach park Sunday morning.

Muslims are prohibited from eating pork products.

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says pork is often used to offend or taunt Muslims.

Officials with the organization said there have been similar taunts around the country.

Only a handful of organizers from the Muslim American Society on Staten Island noticed the pork in the park.

One organizer told the Staten Island Advance that about 1,500 worshippers gathered Sunday to celebrate the end of the monthlong fast of Ramadan.

-- The Associated Press