Hawzah News Agency (Newark, New Jersey state, USA) - A New Jersey state employee at a Newark job development center allegedly snatched the hijab off a Muslim woman’s head and threw it to the floor in an “act against the Islamic faith” earlier this month, city officials say.

The office of Mayor Ras Baraka issued a statement about the alleged act of hate on Tuesday, December ۱۹, calling it an “attack on [the victim] as a woman.”

According to city officials, a white male employee at the Newark One Stop Center on Broad Street allegedly “ridiculed and assaulted” the black female Muslim – a Newark municipal employee – when he grabbed her hijab, a veil traditionally worn in the presence of adult males outside of a woman’s immediate family, and threw it on the floor on Dec. 5.

A spokesperson with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development told that the accused employee has been suspended without pay.

However, Baraka said Tuesday that the worker should have been terminated from state employment immediately in addition to being banned from the site.

“He should have been charged by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office for a hate crime,” Baraka opined.

"In the present climate of violence against Muslims across America and around the world, hate crimes must be recognized for what they are and they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “The climate of anti-Muslim violence that has exploded in recent weeks is leaving tragedy, pain and division in its wake. I am joining Newark's Muslim and the entire caring community in calling for United States Attorney Paul Fishman to investigate the incident and to charge the perpetrator with a hate crime. It is imperative that the Department of Justice stand with the people of Newark and make it clear that hate crimes will be met with swift and certain prosecution. All of Newark's residents must know that they are safe at all times, regardless of their religion, color, gender or class."

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