Source: Reuters
A U.S. Muslim civil rights group said on Thursday it was monitoring reports of several incidents targeting Muslims in the United States since Republican Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday and called on the president-elect to denounce the attacks.
The reports included at least two assaults on women in Islamic head scarves, as well as racist graffiti and bullying of immigrant children, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and other civil rights groups.
“It’s the inevitable result of the mainstreaming of Islamophobia we’ve seen in recent months with the presidential campaign,” CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said in a phone interview. “Unfortunately, it really is up to Donald Trump to repudiate this kind of bigotry.”
Trump’s campaign could not be reached for comment.
During the campaign, Trump called for banning Muslims from entering the country for security reasons. The wealthy businessman, who won his White House bid with strong support from white voters, has made calls for unity since the election.
Hooper said the president-elect’s supporters appeared to be getting a different message.
A female student in a hijab at San Diego State University was assaulted and robbed on Wednesday, the university said. The assailants were reported to have made comments to the victim in support of Trump and hurled anti-Muslim insults at her, the school said in a statement, adding the case was being investigated as a hate crime.
At San Jose State University in California, a man on Wednesday pulled at the head scarf of woman walking in a parking garage, the university said in a statement.
The reports came as demonstrators protested Trump’s victory in cities across the country, blasting his campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and women.
Police in Louisiana said a woman made up a story about being assaulted near the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus and having her hijab removed by two men.
ANTI-TRUMP INCIDENTS
There were also reports of Trump supporters being targeted by ugly rhetoric and worse.
In a video posted on social media, at least two people can be seen beating a man at an intersection as others are heard yelling: “You voted Trump” and “Don’t vote Trump.”
Chicago police spokesman Frank Giancamilli confirmed the 50-year-old man was attacked by five people on Wednesday following a traffic altercation in the city, but said police had not determined the motive for the attack.
Categories: America, Human Rights, Minorities, The Muslim Times, USA