NEW YORK –  A Muslim
girl was attacked at her New York middle school by three schoolmates who
referred to the girl as a terrorist organization and tried ripping off her
religious headscarf. 

The sixth grade girl from the Bronx  was playing during recess when three boys
allegedly went after her.

The boys, who are in the same grade as
the girl, allegedly put her in a headlock and punched her as they attempted to
take off her headscarf.

While beating up the girl, the boys allegedly
called her ISIS .

Officers responded to a 911 call about
the attack which was reported as a bias incident in which three students
attacked one other student, but a police report was never taken.

The boys were expected to appear at a
disciplinary hearing for their alleged actions shortly after the incident, but
it was postponed in order to allow the boys’ families to hire legal
representation, the school source said.

“Unfortunately young Muslims have been
experiencing this for quite some time,” Corey Saylor, spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
told IE.

“Since August of last year… we’ve seen a
cycle of Islamophobia that’s had a much more violent tinge to it than we’ve
seen in many, many years,” said Saylor, who serves as CAIR’s director of the
department to monitor and combat Islamophobia.

The mass shooting that saw 14 people
killed and 21 wounded when a husband and wife opened fire at a holiday party in
San Bernardino on December 5 has left Muslim-American communities in fear of
backlash.

The principal of P.S. 89, known as the
Williamsbridge School, declined to comment on the incident.

“We are committed to promoting safe and
supportive environments and a community of inclusion in all DOE schools,” a
source at the Department of Education told IE.