The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement that a 16-year-old boy was attacked outside Brooklyn’s Muslim Community Center as he took a break from prayers.
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However, they have described it as a “non-bias incident”.
“The hate crimes unit investigated it and determined that this incident is not a hate crime”, Ryan said.Police are still investigating the alleged assault and are looking for the man, he said.
Mosque director Mohamed Bahe said the assailant screamed, “You fucking terrorists”, at the 16 and 17-year-old victims during the attack, which took place at 1:18am outside the Muslim Community Center of Brooklyn in Sunset Park, The Independent reported on Monday.
The NYPD said the hate crimes unit investigated and determined the incident is not a hate crime.. The sites reported that Captain Emmanuel Gonzalez, the head of the NYPD’s 72nd Precinct (which covers Sunset Park) had visited the mosque to apologize for not stationing more officers there.
“These two individuals were standing outside of the vehicle with a woman who I understand was dressed quite provocatively”, he said.
He explained that there have been a number of incidents involving prostitution and drug-taking on the streets and they looked in the auto to see who was inside.
“We had two volunteers, and they saw a suspicious auto parked outside of our entrance”, he told BuzzFeed News. They went to ask if everything was alright when a man came running from the opposite end of the street and started beating the boys calling them a terrorist.
“This is a blatant cover-up”, he said, alleging that police had only spoken with the severely injured man who was first beaten.
The 72nd precinct referred all calls from BuzzFeed News to DCPI. He further informed that his department is taking the incident seriously.
Shocking photos show the pair with bruised and bloody faces, while a vehicle daubed with blood reveals the severity of the assault.
His friend suffered a black eye.
The incident comes after a string of Islamophobic attacks in the USA over the last few months. The motive was unclear, but came a day after another Muslim man was beaten outside a Florida mosque. A suspect was arrested.
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Police are not classifying the incident as a hate crime, though the group Muslims Giving Back, posted to social media calling it “absolutely a hate crime” and calling for action.
