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Muslim Woman Attacked In Harlem Over Headdress Pics
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 8, 2011
Modified Jul 8, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 8, 2011
Modified Jul 8, 2011
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Police are currently investigating whether an attack on a 56-year-old burka-wearing woman in Harlem was a hate crime. Aissatou Diallo claims that on Wednesday two women, a 28-year-old black woman and a 60-year-old white woman, attacked her on West 141st Street after she asked one to stop taking pictures of her headdress.
"I was minding my business. I was fully covered. So, why did they attack me—just because I am a Muslim?" Diallo asked the Post. She says she was walking to her husband's store when the younger woman, Francesca Johnson, began taking cellphone pictures of her on St. Nicholas Avenue. When Diallo asked her to stop Johnson "ducked into a building and reappeared" with her older friend, Linda Paplow.
"The white lady called me a f--king terrorist," Diallo says. "She said she was going to kill me. The white lady punched me in the left eye." The pair allegedly then ran off only to come back and throw Diallo to the floor. And as if that weren't degrading enough, Diallo says the pair then "pulled off my burqa and cursed at me." The two women have been arrested on assault charges and hate-crime detectives are investigating.
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Garth Johnston
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