A Muslim woman walking down a Manhattan street in downtown New York was slashed in the face during yesterday’s rush hour by a man who called her a “terrorist,” according to police sources.
The 20-year-old who is a student at the private postsecondary school Make-up Designory, was taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. The attack left a two-inch tear on the left side of the woman’s face, police told CBS New York.
The attack happened just before 5:00pm while the woman was walking near 65 Broadway, in Manhattan’s Financial District.
A man grabbed her arm, slashed her across her cheek and ran away, police said.
The woman, who was wearing a headscarf, told investigators that the attacker called her a terrorist, according to police.
The woman told the police that said she did not know the attacker who got away. Police are investigating the attack, but not as a hate crime.
The attack comes amid a spike in the number of slashings and stabbings in New York City. Attacks like this are up more than 20 per cent this year from 2015, and have prompted a new city initiative to combat rising violence.
Earlier, United States Secretary of State John Kerry termed Republican candidates’ 2016 election rhetoric against Muslims an “embarrassment” to his country.
“Everywhere I go, every leader I meet, they ask about what is happening in America. They cannot believe it. I think it is fair to say they’re shocked,” Kerry said on Saturday in an interview on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ show.
