Subway attack over hijab
The victim, Hanane Mehdi, was taking the subway to work during rush hour on Tuesday. As usual when in public she had on her hijab, the veil that covers the head and chest many Muslim women wear when in the presence of adult men not of their family.
She was on a crowded subway car when a woman came up to her and began yelling and grabbing at her, Mehdi said. “You veiled women should return to your country,” the woman told her, as she described to local television station TVA, .
Mehdi did her best not to respond and was relieved when the woman moved on. But when she got off at her stop, the Henri-Bourassa station, she encountered the same woman.
“Suddenly, I see the lady who attacked me,” Mehdi told TVA. “She started hitting me in the face, which got all red. I felt her hitting me from behind until people got involved.”
El-Alloul realized that she was injured enough that she needed to return home. She had bruises on her head and her nine-year-old daughter, Marwa, said she was upset about what happened to her mother.
“I was so scared I was sick,” Marwa said in French. “I didn’t know it could happen to my mother and I almost cried because I love my mom and I don’t want that to happen to her.”
Judge dismisses case due to hijab
Mehdi said she has encountered remarks and shoves in the past because of her hijab, but this attack was far more violent and more frightening. There was another incident involving a Montreal woman and her hijab in February.
In a Montreal court, Rania El-Alloul was trying to get her car back after it was impounded when her son was caught driving it with a suspended licence. Judge Eliana Marengo told El-Alloul she would not rule because she was wearing a hijab and dismissed her case .
El-Alloul was left without her car.
Her case made headlines in Canada and other countries and a crowdfunding page was set up by two male strangers to her. The men felt she had been unfairly treated and wanted to buy her a new car.
The page raised over $50,000 but El-Alloul declined to accept it. She said she was grateful and happy the issue received attention but felt the money could be put to better use than buying her a car.
The organizers posted on their crowdfunding site that they would find another cause for the money or return it to the donors.
In the case of the subway attack, Mehdi filed an incident report with the police who are looking at surveillance tape to try and identify her attacker.
