NEW YORK — A 35-year-old woman dressed in traditional Muslim garb was set on fire while she was standing outside a store on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Saturday night, police say.
According to PIX 11 News, the woman was walking down Fifth Avenue outside Valentino just before 9 p.m. when she says she felt something warm on her arm.
The woman saw her blouse was on fire, and frantically patted out the flames. That’s when she noticed a man standing near her with a lighter. She told police that the man did not speak to her and just walked away.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is trying to determine if it was motivated by bias toward Muslims.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) condemned attack on the woman in the latest in a series of attacks on Muslims and urged New York’s mayor to add resources for the investigation of hate crimes.
