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Muslim Woman's Blouse Set On Fire In Possible Hate Crime On Fifth Avenue

Emma Whitford

Published Sep 12, 2016

Modified Sep 13, 2016

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Emma Whitford

Published Sep 12, 2016

Modified Sep 13, 2016

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

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A 36-year-old woman was window shopping on Fifth Avenue in Midtown on Saturday night when a man walked up to her and set her blouse on fire with a lighter, according to a complaint filed with the NYPD. The woman was wearing hijab, and the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident as a possible bias attack.

Police said that the woman was standing outside of the Valentino boutique at 693 Fifth Avenue looking at the front window display when she "felt something warm on her left arm." She looked down and realized that the left sleeve of her blouse was on fire. A man standing next to her allegedly had a lighter in his hand. The woman didn't know the man, who proceeded to head east on 54th Street without speaking to her. She managed to put out the flames, and was uninjured.

No arrests have been made as of Monday afternoon.

Last week, a Brooklyn woman was arrested after she allegedly attacked two Muslim women pushing their babies in strollers in Bath Beach. Prosecutors say she attempted to rip off their hijabs and told them, "Get the fuck out of America, bitches."

Emirjeta Xhelili, 32, has been charged with misdemeanor assault as a hate crime, and was ordered held on $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash bail.

"I'm running out of things to say, really," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Each [incident] is followed by another." He mentioned the Florida mosque of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, which police believe was intentionally set on fire this morning. And yesterday, the 15th anniversary of 9/11, someone threw a rock through a window at a mosque in Nashua, New Hampshire.

"We've been seeing an unprecedented rise in anti-Muslim incidents in the last year," he added. "Anti-Muslim bigotry is on the rise thanks to people like Donald Trump, and we're definitely seeing the impact of that."

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anti-muslim attack

bias attack

hate crimes task force

set on fire

Emma Whitford

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