New York, September 13 (RHC)-- In another incident of religious discrimination in the United States, a Muslim woman in New York City has been set on fire for wearing an Islamic dress.
The incident occurred over the weekend, when an unknown attacker set fire to a 36-year-old Scottish tourist's blouse outside a boutique in Manhattan. Police sources say that Nemariq Alhinai was walking in front of the shop at around 9 p.m. when she felt heat on her arm and noticed that the sleeve of her blouse was charred and smoldering while a man with a lighter in hand was standing next to her.
She put out the flames but the attacker managed to get away, police said, noting that the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force was investigating the case as a possible hate crime. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), demanded a full investigation to the case, expressing concern about the recent surge in Islamophobic attacks against American Muslims.
The attack comes days after an American woman was arrested for attacking two Muslim women as they were pushing two baby carriages in New York's Brooklyn district. According to court documents, Emirjeta Xhelili, 32 years old, hurled Islamophobic insults as she struck the hijab-wearing women in the face and body. She repeatedly shouted, "This is the United States of America, you're not supposed to be different from us."