Mayor Ras Baraka welcomes residents to the 31st annual christmas tree lighting ceremony in Newark on December 5, 2016. (Alexandra Pais | For NJ Advance Media)

NEWARK — The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city on Tuesday called for the state to fire an employee who allegedly grabbed a hijab off a woman’s head and threw it on the ground.

A white, male state employee ridiculed a Black, Muslim female Newark employee and snatched her hijab Dec. 5 in the Newark One-Stop Career Center, Mayor Ras Baraka said in a press release.

“This was an act of hate against the Islamic faith, as well as an attack on her as a woman,” he said.

Newark police arrested the man and banned him from the One-Stop Center, but Baraka said the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office should have charged him with a hate crime. He also called on U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman to investigate the incident and file a hate crime charge.

Read more