Muslim Americans are pleading with Donald Trump to stop encouraging violence in demanding a “complete” halt to Muslim immigration after a New York shopkeeper was beaten in a possible hate crime.
Republican presidential frontrunner Trump’s inflammatory call is part of what activists have described as an unprecedented anti-Muslim backlash following the Paris attacks and the shooting in California by a couple believed to have turned extremist.
“He’s giving the right to people to hurt us,” said Ahmed Shedeed, who moved to the United States from Egypt in 1980 with a degree in agricultural engineering and today runs a travel agency. Also director of The Islamic Centre of Jersey City, he spoke to AFP at a mosque, accusing Trump of provoking hate and violence.