NYPD: Teens kick, punch, spit on Muslim woman wearing hijab in Brooklyn

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CBS News

December 29, 2017, 8:51 PM

NEW YORK -- Police say a 51-year-old woman wearing a hijab was attacked by a group of teenage girls in downtown Brooklyn, CBS New York reports. The woman, Souad Kirama, was at a Panera restaurant where she said the attack unfolded.

In a Facebook Live video, Kirama said she was "viciously attacked by a bunch of teenagers."

"They attacked me, beat me up, and people were just standing there, watching me be beat up, called a 'f-----g terrorist,' and nobody did nothing. Nothing. Nobody stood up for me," she said.

Kirama said the teens were throwing themselves on the floor and swinging on a chandelier. When she asked them to quiet down, Kirama said they turned on her, calling her a terrorist, telling her to go back to her country before kicking, punching and spitting on her. She said no one watching the attack tried to stop them.


Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-teens-kick-punch-spit-on-muslim-woman-wearing-hijab-in-brooklyn/

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Goddammit!

I will say that I honestly don't understand the hijab and why women persist in wearing it, but NOTHING justifies that sort of behavior.

[heaven05]

10. it's their culture

what's not to understand about their dressing to adhere to one of their cultural norms? I don't understand the underlying disdain in your comment on hijabs. And you're damn right nothing justifies racism, bigotry and just plain ameriKKKan hate inspired by a culture/society/country that was built on the genocide of one race and the enslavement of another.

[LanternWaste]

21. And I honestly don't understand people wearing workout clothes when they're not at the gym

And I honestly don't understand people wearing workout clothes when they're not at the gym and flip flops when they're not at the beach. Or people who go to stores wearing pajamas. Or why American homes have a toilet and a bath-tub in the same room. Or the excessively large size of our cars.

All that irrelevant petulance aside, yes-- nothing justified that sort of behavior.

[jcmaine72]

2. Welcome to Trump's America...

....Where violent Islamophobia, sexism, racism, homophobia and xenophobia are not only accepted norms, but celebrated virtues.

[alp227]

3. "Nobody stood up for me" - hard to believe that

And I've never seen a chandelier in a Panera - even the one in San Francisco near AT&T Park.

Do keep in mind there have been high-profile hate crime hoaxes conveniently timed around the election/presidency of Trump.

[csziggy]

11. Yeah - that stood out to me, too

If it did happen, Panera will have CCTV recordings. They need to step forward with them either way.

I can't imagine any business would allow their employees to stand by as a customer is attacked on their premises.

[yardwork]

13. I await further details...

[dembotoz]

15. Kitty Genovese

Story from years ago and perhaps spelled he name wrong . Woman killed in broad daylight in major city and no one did anything

[Aristus]

19. Not quite accurate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese

It was the middle of the night, in an isolated apartment mews, several people called the police, who took forever to show up, and the witness statement "I didn't want to get involved" has come under suspicion for having been fabricated in order to sensationalize the story. Many of the other details of the case have been questioned in the decades since.

It was a horrible murder; there's no getting around that. But it didn't need to be sensationalized.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Muslim woman attacked by group of teen girls who called her terrorist in Brooklyn hate crime

Muslim woman attacked by group of teen girls who called her ‘terrorist’ in Brooklyn hate crime

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.3726503.1514585255!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/hate30n-1-web.jpg

“All I did was ask them to be quiet and they started attacking me and punching me in my back,” Souad Kirama said between sobs on a Facebook live video after the attack. (SOUAD KIRAMA VIA FACEBOOK)



A crew of hate-filled teenage girls attacked a Muslim woman at a Brooklyn Panera Bread, calling her a terrorist as they punched and spit at her, police said Friday.

Muslim community activist Souad Kirama was having coffee with a colleague inside the Panera Bread on Adams St. near Willoughby St. in Downtown Brooklyn when the girls began roughhousing with each other about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.

“All I did was ask them to be quiet and they started attacking me and punching me in my back,” Kirama said between sobs on a Facebook live video after the attack. “People were just standing there watching me being beaten up and being called a ‘f---ing terrorist.’”

“They were just having their coffee like nothing was happening,” she said of the onlookers.

More:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/muslim-woman-attacked-teen-girls-called-terrorist-article-1.3726504

[demigoddess]

5. we should all start wearing hijabs. then they wouldn't know who was muslim

to attack.

[samir.g]

20. Someday all women will wear hijab.

When we are free from Islamophobia.

[Achilleaze]

6. republicans & their Draft-Dodger-in-Chief have brought this evil

up out of the cesspool of their souls and into world. Deplorable.

[paleotn]

7. What gets me is bystanders did nothing...

Is it a cultural thing? We may have our own problems in my little corner of the southeast, but people I know, both liberal and conservative, don't just sit idly by. I've seen it. I've been involved in it. We simply don't put up with that shit.

[Codeine]

8. You are assuming it happened

and further assuming that it played out as described by this person. I think it may be better to reserve judgement for a bit. If it happened as described there should be security video to back up the claim.

[paleotn]

9. That is true.

[GulfCoast66]

12. Swinging on a chandelier?

In a Panera Bread? I would love to see the film of that.

Seems like the store manager would have been involved.

And beating up a person in different clothes in fucking Brooklyn? I could see Omaha, but Brooklyn? I have a friend who’s kids go to school there. There are kids from over 50 Nations in their school.

Could there be more to this story? Hope so anyway cause I would think less of Brooklyn if it happened for cultural reasons.

But racism occurs everywhere.

[BlueIdaho]

16. More details needed...

If this did happen inside a national chain outlet like Panera - you would sure expect the word to spread like wildfire up the corporate chain... you’d also expect any competent reporter to seek a statement from the local franchise owner.

As lurid as this all sounds, I think we need more info here...

[Paladin]

14. I blame trump for this. (nt)

[brooklynite]

17. Three blocks from my house...

[brooklynite]

18. More details and video of Manager speaking...

Link to tweet