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The attack early
on Sunday was at least the third involving Muslims in the United
States over the weekend. A law enforcement source said
investigators had ruled out the incident as a bias crime.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, or 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.
A surveillance video released by CAIR showed a man punching,
kicking and stomping the youth as he lay in the street. Another
teenager on a bicycle was chased and attacked when he rode past
the boy.
CAIR said the man was reportedly heard shouting: "You Muslims
are the cause of all the problems of the world" and calling the
youths "terrorists."
The 16-year-old suffered a concussion, cuts, bruises and a badly
swollen eye, and was taken to a hospital. The second teenager
had a black eye, CAIR said.
Afaf Nasher, the executive director of CAIR in New York, said
the slurs warranted an investigation into a possible bias
motive.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department said the
16-year-old suffered bruises to the head and was treated at a
hospital. The second teenager refused medical attention. The
spokesman gave his age as 17.
The law enforcement source said the police hate crimes unit had
rejected the incident as a bias crime. He said the two youths
were harassing a 40-year-old woman in a car and her 37-year-old
boyfriend assaulted them.
The man has been identified and a search for him is under way,
the source said.
In Houston on Sunday, a Muslim doctor headed for morning prayers
at a mosque was shot in an attack by three men. The motive was
unclear, but came a day after another Muslim man was beaten
outside a Florida mosque.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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