Photo: British Muslim's hijab 'set on fire' in New York

Physinews Reports: Police in New York are searching for a man
who set a British Muslim's hijab on fire
outside a boutique store on bustling Fifth
Avenue.

The 35-year-old woman, reportedly a dentist
from Glasgow, was window shopping when
she suddenly felt her shirt sleeve on fire.


CCTV footage has been released in an
attempt to find the man involved, who was
brandishing a lighter before he fled the scene.

The NYPD is treating the incident as a
potential hate crime, and has released
CCTV which shows the suspect.

A spokeswoman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations said: "It's
another (piece of) evidence that Muslims are
increasingly vulnerable in this political
climate."

Last month, an imam and his assistant were
shot dead near their mosque in the New York
borough of Queens, but an investigation has
not determined whether it was an
Islamophobic attack.

Nonetheless, New York mayor Bill de Blasio
has since deployed additional police officers
to secure mosques and reassure the city's
Muslim population.
New York Police Department are trying to
identify this person in connection with the
attack