RYE, New York. More than a dozen people celebrating Ramadan on Tuesday at Rye Playland were arrested following a scrape with law enforcement over a head-scarf ban.
“People felt like they were discriminated against,” Zead Ramadan told Metro. Ramadan, the board president of the New York Council on American Islamic Relations, was at the theme park when the incident took place.
He blamed the brawl on a miscommunication between park officials and attendees.
The Muslim American Society of New York invited 3,000 members to the theme park, about 40 minutes outside Manhattan, but neglected to inform them that they must remove their hijabs before getting on the rides, he said. Park officials said they ban all headgear on rides, such as baseball hats, because they can be dangerous.
Witnesses told the New York Daily News that when the women learned they could not ride while covering their heads, they requested a refund.
That’s when witnesses say police began pushing women to the ground and the brawl broke out.
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