Muslim advocates charge NYPD is racial profiling
Muslim advocates charge NYPD is racial profiling in Queens raids tied to alleged Zazi terror plot. Recent terror raids in Queens have led to a spike in fear and racial profiling, Muslim advocates charge.
About 40 people rallied outside the Flushing Public Library yesterday to draw attention to what they called an uptick in targeted policing.
The rally was in response to raids last month link
More..ed to a suspected bomb plot. Najibullah Zazi, who authorities say was trained at an al Qaeda terror camp, was charged in the plot. Zazi, 24, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to detonate explosives.
"People are scared," said Sultan Faiz, a leader at Abu Bakar Mosque in Queens. "People are fearful in our community."
Faiz said attendance at the mosque has plunged since the raids.
"Stop the raids," one sign read. "No racial or religious profiling," read another.
Yesha Mahmooda, an organizer with the South Asian immigrant rights group Desis Rising Up and Moving, said hundreds of community members have contacted her to report police profiling in recent weeks.
"They are very scared they are being surveilled," she said.
Organizers say Muslims in New York haven't been this scared since the months after 9/11, when some were subject to blatant discrimination across the country.
The NYPD issued a statement saying the don't engage in racial profiling.
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Added: Oct 10 2009 In: news_politics
By: THE_HAMMER_OF_POITIERS
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