Muslim Teen Girl’s Hijab Pulled In Subway Attack: NYPD

CHELSEA, NY - A Muslim teen was attacked on a subway train early Wednesday morning in what police are investigating as a possible faith-based bias crime.

The 16-year-old girl was on a southbound 5 train approaching the Union Square subway station about 9 a.m. when a male assailant began yelling at her and pulling on her hijab, an NYPD spokesperson told Patch.

The man yelled "you’re a terrorist, you don’t belong here," before pulling on her hijab, NBC New York first reported.

No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.

The teen was not physically injured in the incident, police said.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, there have been 375 hate crime incidents and 213 arrests, according to the NYPD Hate Crimes dashboard. That’s down more than 61 percent from 983 incidents, which led to 517 arrests, this time last year.

The NYPD has reported an uptick in bias crimes against both Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers, with the NYPD reporting 161 anti-Jewish motivated complaints in 2023 before the Oct. 8 assault on Israelis by Hamas, according to NBC New York. Following the attack, another 35 complaints have been reported. Seven anti-Muslim complaints were reported before the attack this year; five more were reported since Oct. 8.