IN THE NEWS NEW YORK UNITES OVER TAXI DRIVER ATTACK
A group of influential New Yorkers has con- demned a suspected racist attack on a taxi driver which is being linked with plans to build a Muslim centre near the site of 9/11. According to Sky News, driver Ahmed Sharif, a 43-year-old Bangladeshi immi- grant, said he was slashed across the neck, face and shoul- ders by a passenger. As they were heading for Times Square, the passenger engaged him in a conversation, mostly asking ques- tions about his life – is he a Muslim, how long has he lived in the US, does he fast during Ramadan, etc.
After a few moments of silence, the man sud-
Stabbed taxi driver Ahmed Sharif recovering in hospital
denly stopped talking and just “started curs- ing and screaming.” the Taxi Workers Alliance (TWA) said in a statement.
“He yelled ‘Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint,’ and then reached through an opening on the cab’s protective parti-
tion and slashed Sharif’s throat,” the statement added. Luckily, Sharif was able to climb out of his cab and call 911. A police officer patrolling near- by came to the rescue and found the passen- ger highly intoxicated. New York Mayor Bloomberg said he
had spoken to Mr Sharif and “assured him that ethnic or reli- gious bias has no place in our city”. He added: “This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe, no matter what God we may pray to.” The TWA said the con- troversy over the Muslim centre and mosque had made Muslim New Yorkers vulnerable.
“The environment that all the fear-mongering and the ignorance has created, we believe, is directly responsible for this kind of vio- lence,” the alliance’s executive director Bhairavi Desai said. Other groups have also condemned the
stabbing. “We were not attacked by the Muslim world,” said Donna O’Connor, spokeswoman for September 11th Fami- lies For Peaceful Tomorrows, whose pregnant daughter was killed in the World Trade Centre attacks. “We 100 per cent fully support the Islamic cultural centre.” Mr Sharif himself said he was “very sad” about the attack. “I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years,” he said in a statement. “All my four kids were born here. I have never felt this hopeless and insecure before.” Michael Enright, a 21- year-old film student at
Michael Enright
the School of Visual Arts, has been arrest- ed for the stabbing. He was charged by the State Supreme Court in New York City for attempted murder as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, assault, and criminal posses- sion of a weapon.
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