MINNEAPOLIS (March 22, 2017) — The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) called on law enforcement authorities to investigate an incident in which a Muslim woman was allegedly followed and then threatened by two people in Minneapolis as a possible hate crime.
According to the alleged victim, who was wearing an Islamic head scarf (hijab) and was with her one-year-old child, the two people followed her for 7-8 minutes while she was driving and then blocked her from parking her car. One of those two people, a woman, then reportedly approached the Muslim woman’s car and started shouting abuse and obscenities including, “You should f***ing go home, and you should be f***ing deported,” and threatened to “rip her face off if she sees her again.”
The Minneapolis Police Department is looking in to the incident, including examining surveillance video from the neighboring stores.
“This incident is alarming and appears to be the result of growing Islamophobia — and it must be treated with the seriousness it deserves,” said CAIR-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein. “It’s troubling to know that Muslim women in our state have to fear going about in their daily lives.”
Hussein noted that this is the second such incident in the span of a week in Minnesota. This past Saturday, a Muslim woman was followed and harassed by a man in Moorhead, Minn.
CAIR’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., has noted an unprecedented spike in hate incidents targeting Muslims and other minority groups since the Nov. 8 election.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
