The NYPD assaulted two Muslim women and forcibly removed their hijabs during an August protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday against the city alleging excessive force and civil rights violations.
The lawsuit, brought by Zarmeen Azam, Shajnin Howlader and the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims the incidents were part of a larger pattern of wrongful behavior by the NYPD.
“These incidents are not an aberration,” the lawsuit states. “They are examples of what appears to be a growing police practice of forcibly and publicly removing women’s hijabs at protests as a form of brutal crowd control through intimidation and religiously targeted violence.”
The plaintiffs seek monetary compensation and a prohibition against the removal of head coverings at protests.
The Aug. 14, 2024, protest took place in upper Manhattan outside a fundraiser in support of then-Vice President Kamala Harris’s bid for the White House. It was attended by fellow Democrats Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York federal court, names as defendants the City of New York, Assistant Chief of Patrol Ruel R. Stephenson, Sergeant Joseph M. Spalding and unidentified officers with the NYPD.
A spokesperson for Adams referred all questions about the lawsuit to the NYPD. The NYPD did not comment on the lawsuit, but in an email, a department spokesperson said approximately 300 demonstrators participated in the gathering organized by the pro-Palestinian grassroots group Within Our Lifetime.
The spokesperson said 20 participants grew disruptive outside and inside the Bird in Hand restaurant, located at 3569 Broadway, just north of 146th Street, breaking vases and dishes and causing more than $5,000 in damages. A total of 14 people were taken into custody.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs were “standing peaceably” outside the restaurant when Sgt. Spalding confronted Howlader, a 19-year-old college student from Jamaica, Queens, and “without any cause, yanked on Ms. Howlader’s hijab.”
“As the hijab was coming off her head, it tangled and caught around her throat, cutting off her ability to breathe or speak,” the lawsuit states. “She was in such pain from the pressure on her throat that, when an officer pepper sprayed her, she did not even register it.”
The lawsuit alleges that the other plaintiff, Zarmeen Azam of Yonkers, experienced similar treatment at the protest. It claims that Asst. Chief Stephenson “clutched Zarmeen Azam’s throat with one hand, strangling her with the fabric of her hijab,” and then, “dragged her along the ground for several long minutes.”
“Ms. Azam could not breathe. She thought she would die,” the lawsuit states.
Christina John, a staff attorney at CAIR-NY, said despite NYPD claims of disruptive behavior on the part of demonstrators, both plaintiffs and were “lawfully on the sidewalk at all times.”
John said the removal of protesters’ hijabs had become an “intimidation tactic, being used even where there wasn’t cause for arrest.”
The lawsuit comes on the heels of another civil rights complaint, claiming that the NYPD violated the rights of hijab-wearing Muslim women by forcing them to remove their religious head coverings for their mugshot photos.
That class-action lawsuit ended last year in a $17.5 million payout by the city. As many as 3,600 people of different faiths would qualify for a share of the settlement, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said at the time.
“So it's very concerning, timing-wise,” John said. “It just makes you wonder if the NYPD is shifting tactics. It's like, ‘if we can't use this tactic and this one way, OK, we're going to use it at protests.’”
Andrew Wilson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the alleged conduct was concerning.
“Some of the individuals who are involved here are high ranking members of the NYPD,” said Wilson, calling it “a problem that needs to be fixed.”
