NYPD officers forcefully removed hijabs and assaulted protesters, federal lawsuit claims
In a new federal civil rights lawsuit, two women say they had their hijabs forcefully removed and were assaulted by New York City police officers while protesting last summer.
The demonstrators and the Council on American-Islamic Relations-New York are now suing the city and individual NYPD officers, seeking money and policy change.
"It's a case that challenges the NYPD's practice of forcibly removing religious head coverings during protests as a form of intimidation," said Andrew Wilson, the attorney for the plaintiffs.
- Read more: New York City to pay $17.5 million to settle suit over forcing women to remove hijabs for mug shots
Here's what's alleged
On Aug. 14, 2024, demonstrators calling for a ceasefire in Gaza gathered outside a Kamala Harris campaign event, where local Democratic leaders spoke. They then marched to the afterparty at a Hamilton Heights restaurant.
According to police sources, about 20 people caused more than $5,000 in damages inside the restaurant and an officer was assaulted. Outside, the chaos continued. In all, 14 people were taken into custody.
The 32-page lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court alleges 20-year-old Zarmeen Azam could not breathe as an officer clutched her "throat with one hand, strangling her with the fabric of her hijab. With his other hand, he swung his baton at the protesters trying to help her."
"I stated, 'I can't move back. We can't move back,'" 19-year-old Shajnin Howlader said.
She described the crowd and police around them as getting aggressive.
"In that pushing and shoving, that's when he grabbed one end of my hijab and pulled at it, despite me yelling, 'This is my hijab! Let go!'" Howlader said.
Howlader says she was also pepper sprayed, but worst of all felt de-humanized.
"It just felt humiliating and it felt like I was being stripped publicly," Howlader said.
"A violent act by law enforcement," attorney says
Azam was arrested and given a desk appearance ticket for two offenses, which were dismissed. Howlader was not arrested.
"Do you think that what you're alleging was intentional by police or was it something that happened amid the chaos?" CBS News New York asked Wilson, the plaintiffs' attorney.
"More than one woman had her hijab removed in the midst of the protest in a violent act by law enforcement. It's not the only time we've seen it," Wilson said.
"No other person of another faith should be experiencing a head cover or just some type of religious apparel being stripped away from them," Howlader said.
The NYPD declined comment, but a law enforcement source said, "These wild protesters stormed a community restaurant and created an incredibly dangerous situation. It's clear that the cops did everything they could to protect the patrons and disperse the aggressive crowd, even while getting attacked, themselves."
