Muslim Woman Wearing Hijab Set on Fire in New York City
The 35-year-old woman was wearing a hijab and looking at a dress in the window display of a Valentino store on 5th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan when a man set her clothes on fire with a lighter, the New York Police Department told BuzzFeed News.
"She felt a sudden heat on her left arm,” a police source said. "She noticed she was on fire and patted the fire out.”
The woman was not seriously injured in the attack, police said, but the flame left a hole in her blouse about the size of a quarter.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident as a possible bias crime. No arrests have been made in the incident.
Albert Cahn, the director of strategic litigation at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told BuzzFeed News the advocacy group is concerned about an increase in attacks on Muslims in the US.
"CAIR is alarmed by the spike we are observing in attacks on Muslim individuals in New York, and of course across the country,” Cahn said. "This is not just something that should be of concern to the Muslim community, but to all Americans.”
Source: Buzzfeed
