The Council on American-Islamic Relations is demanding an apology from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after a Muslim woman was escorted out of a South Carolina campaign rally.
Police removed Rose Hamid, who was wearing a hijab, after she stood up in silent protest in the stands behind Trump when he suggested that Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their home country are affiliated with Islamic State militants. Some Trump backers heckled her as she was led out of the event Friday.
“The image of a Muslim woman being abused and ejected from a political rally sends a chilling message to American Muslims and to all those who value our nation’s traditions of religious diversity and civic participation,” CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.
“Donald Trump should issue a public apology to the Muslim woman kicked out of his rally and make a clear statement that American Muslims are welcome as fellow citizens and as participants in the nation’s political process.”
She also called on Trump to meet with American Muslim leaders to try and put an end to the “anti-Muslim hysteria” that the group says has resulted from Trump’s rhetoric.
The woman who was ejected from the rally — a 56-year-old flight attendant who was wearing a T-shirt that read, “Salam, I come in peace” — told CNN, “The ugliness really came out fast, and that’s really scary.”
Hamid said one person yelled at her, “You have a bomb, you have a bomb.”
On the campaign trail in Iowa on Saturday, Trump showed little sign that he planned to tone down his rhetoric much. He talked about the mass shooting last month perpetrated by a Muslim couple in San Bernardino, Calif., and the shooting of a police officer in Philadelphia on Thursday by a man who authorities say pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
“The hatred is so incredible,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “And the danger, when we have people willing to fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and many other things, we’ve got to solve it.”
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