Muslim woman harassed, called 'terrorist' in US

Three suspects assaulted the woman and asked her to take off her hijab in New York City; they’re on the run


News Desk December 03, 2016
A Muslim woman passes a shop with her face covered. According to Clinton, more than a billion people live under governments that suppress religious freedom. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

As racially motivated assaults in the United States spike post-Trump triumph in elections, a Muslim woman observing hijab was harassed and called a terrorist in New York City, police said on Friday.

New York Police Department has started searching for the three men who tried assaulting the Muslim woman on the 23rd Street subway station on Thursday.

The suspects came to the woman and yelled at her: "Donald Trump! Donald Trump! F****** terrorist, get out of this country, you don't belong here," police said.

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One of the attackers also grabbed the woman's bag, tearing it apart. She asked them: "What do you want?" and started moving in opposite direction.

However, when she climbed off the train at Grand Central, the men again started screaming at her.

"Get the f****** hijab off your head!" said the police.

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The victim has reported to the police at Grand Central, recalling her ordeal that the attackers were white men and appeared to be drunk.

This attack came a few days after NYPD said that bias incidents in New York have increased by 400 per cent in the last two weeks since Trump was elected, when compared to the last year data.

Soon after the attack, Muslim demonstrators took to the streets and protested against the increasing attacks on their community.

"We're horrified by the incident in and of itself," Afaf Nasher of the Council on American Islamic Relations said about the subway harassment of the Muslim woman.

"Anyone going through some kind of attack is absolutely unacceptable. But then you feel this overwhelming empathy because we know that this is not the only person who has been assaulted in mass transit, but also on streets."

There are "swastikas showing up, people who are dressed wearing religious garb being targeted," said Nasher, adding, "We're seeing it on every level from young kids in school to adults in the streets."

The article originally appeared in NBC New York

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