Police are currently searching for a man they believe set fire to a Muslim woman dressed in religious clothing, in what may have been a hate crime.
The New York police department released footage on Tuesday of a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and a vest, which was filmed minutes after the attack.
The incident occurred Saturday evening, a day before New Yorkers commemorated the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11. The woman, believed to be a Scottish dentist in New York on holiday, was standing outside of Valentino, a designer shoe brand’s store, on Fifth Avenue when she felt warmth on her left arm. She saw that her blouse was on fire and man was standing in front of her with a lighter in hand, police said.
Neither said a word to each other before the man walked away.
Police said the attack left the woman with a hole the size of quarter in her blouse but she declined medical attention and sustained no injuries.
More information on the male suspect wanted for lighting a woman's clothes on fire: https://t.co/q3dU1iASVJ https://t.co/9I0tSe02aM
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 13, 2016
Anti-Muslim hate crimes have become more and more commonplace over the past year, with some activists saying the current climate echoes the immediate weeks and months months following 9/11.
“We are clearly seeing a spike in attacks on individual Muslims and Islamic institutions in New York and around the country, which should be of concern to all Americans,” said Cair-NY executive director Afaf Nasher, in a statement released Monday.
New York has seen a wave of suspected hate crimes in the past month alone. Saturday’s incident came only a few days after Brooklyn woman Emirjeta Xhelili punched two Muslim mothers in the face and tried to pull their hijabs off, as they pushed their strollers.
According to The Daily News, Xhelili screamed epithets at the mothers, both 23 years old, and told them to leave America. She was charged with a misdemeanor assault and a hate crime.
In August, Imam Maulama Akonjee and his friend Thara Uddin were fatally shot in the back of the head in broad daylight as they walked home from midday prayers in Ozone Park, Queens. A few weeks later Nazma Khanam was stabbed to death as she was walked home with her husband in Jamaica, Queens, also wearing traditional Muslim attire. While police have made arrests in both cases, hate crime charges have not been brought against either suspect.
The New York police department hate crimes investigations unit is involved in Saturday’s case and activists are calling for it to be invesitgated as a hate crime.
“It is time for the mayor and the NYPD to put forward the necessary resources to investigate and prevent these attacks on the Muslim community,” Nasher said.
