New York woman 'tries to rip off Muslim mother’s hijab and pushes over her child in buggy'

Monday 12 September 2016 09:53 BST
A woman in a hijab (stock image)
A woman in a hijab (stock image)

Authorities say a New York City woman attacked two Muslim women who were pushing their young children in strollers and tried to rip off one woman's hijab.

Court documents say Emirjeta Xhelili approached the women near her Brooklyn home Thursday afternoon, punching one of them in the head as she screamed obscenities and told her to leave America.

Authorities say Xhelili pushed the woman's stroller toward the ground and later tried to grab the second woman's stroller away from her.

Xhelili faces charges including assault, menacing and endangering the welfare of a child. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office has described the incident as a hate crime.

Xhelili is being held on $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash bail. Her lawyer tells the New York Daily News Xhelili has no previous arrests.

The attack comes shortly after a heavily pregnant Muslim woman wearing a veil was attacked in front of her children in Barcelona in an apparent hate crime.

Investigators said the woman was walking in the Spanish city's central Old Town area with her husband and children on Monday evening when two men approached.

AP

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