Protests and interruptions are common fare at Donald Trump rallies. But you apparently don’t have to interrupt the Republican candidate or yell in order to get kicked out. For one Muslim woman, simply standing up was enough to warrant an eviction.
It all happened Friday night at a rally in South Carolina. Just as Trump was cautioning against accepting Syrian refugees because they “probably are ISIS,” a 56-year-old Muslim woman wearing a hijab stood up in silent protest. Around her, people immediately began chanting the real estate mogul’s name, which is what the campaign has instructed supporters to do when there are protests.
Police officers quickly escorted the flight attendant who was wearing a T-shirt that read, “Salam, I come in peace” out of the arena. As she was getting kicked out, Trump supporters became aggressive, telling her to “get out.” Hamid told CNN that one person even shouted: “You have a bomb, you have a bomb.” Before she stood up, Hamid said that the people around her were rather friendly.
“This demonstrates how when you start dehumanizing the other, it can turn people into very hateful, ugly people,” Hamid told CNN. “It needs to be known.”
Hamid wasn’t the only protester escorted out of the venue. She was part of a group of protesters wearing star-shaped badgets, some of which read “Muslim” and others “Stop Islamophobia,” reports CBS News. After they were all escorted out, Trump portrayed himself as the victim. “There is hatred against us that is unbelievable,” Trump said. “It’s their hatred, it’s not our hatred.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations immediately called on Trump to apologize. “The image of a Muslim woman being abused and ejected from a political rally sends a chilling message to American Muslims and to all those who value our nation’s traditions of religious diversity and civic participation,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Donald Trump should issue a public apology.”
