New York City Police Apologize For Treatment Of Qur’ans
NEW YORK (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – New York City police apologized to Muslim community leaders for confiscating copies of the Holy Qur’an from street vendors and stuffing the holy books into plastic bags.
“We made a mistake, and it was our intention to fix it,” Deputy Inspector Christopher Jamison said Tuesday. Jamison said the officers were trying to ease sidewalk and traffic congestion.
Relations between police and some members of the Muslim community have been strained since December 4th, when officers cracked down on unlicensed booksellers selling on street corners.
A civilian complaint report said police “stomped the holy books to press [them] down in a bag” and treated them “like trash.”
As the news of the police treatment spread throughout the Islamic community in the New York City area, the police’s telephone lines lit up with angry callers, Jamison said.
“The community, however, felt that placing the items in the bags was akin to throwing the sacred book in the trash,” he said.
Apparently, either misunderstanding the importance of the Holy Qur’an, or done intentionally and then spinned over, Jamison formally apologized to 10 Muslim leaders on Monday in light of the Islamic community’s response.
