Thread: At New York anti-Trump rally, protesters express anger, fear

US | Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:43am EST
At New York anti-Trump rally, protesters express anger, fear
NEW YORK | By Joseph Ax

Hundreds of activists rallied on Thursday in front of Donald Trump's hotel in midtown New York City to condemn the Republican 2016 presidential candidate’s call to bar Muslims temporarily from entering the United States.

Chanting “Dump Trump” and “refugees welcome,” the protesters castigated Trump’s comments.

“We are not asking for any favors,” Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association of New York told the crowd. “We are asking for the basic respect and dignity that we all deserve here in the United States of America.”

Trump's statement, which has drawn widespread criticism both at home and abroad, came in response to the deadly shootings in San Bernardino, California, last week, in which a married Muslim couple described as "radicalized" by authorities killed 14 people. On Thursday, Trump canceled a planned trip to Israel amid the uproar.

Some protesters said Trump’s comments, while more explicit, were not that far removed from statements by other politicians calling for restrictions on Syrian refugees who want to settle in the United States.

Others warned that Trump's divisive remarks were only intensifying a wave of Islamophobia.

"The damage he’s done is already very significant," said Skanda Kadirgamar, 27, citing reports of increased threats against Muslims. "Donald Trump is here to pour gasoline onto those fires."

Some Muslims at the rally said they feared attacks and discrimination would increase in the wake of the shootings, much as they did following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al Qaeda.

Amira Kariem, 16, said her father forced her mother to stop wearing her head scarf for two weeks following those attacks, while her friend, Iman Sahel, 17, said her aunt was pushed to the ground.

"There are people who are just like him," Sahel said of Trump.

A lone Trump supporter stood off to the side of the protest, holding up signs that said "We Want Trump" and "No More Syrians."

The rally's speakers included Hussam Al Roustom, a Syrian refugee who arrived in New Jersey four months ago after fleeing the war-torn city of Homs.

"Islam is the religion of peace," he said. "Islam is not terrorism."

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...4x3xqtHQSzI.97

The rally's speakers included Hussam Al Roustom, a Syrian refugee who arrived in New Jersey four months ago after fleeing the war-torn city of Homs.

"Islam is the religion of peace," he said. "Islam is not terrorism."

Does anyone see the grand irony here?

Hey, Hussam, you stupid person, you're in our country because you fled a war-torn Muslim country where Muslims are killing each other. Muslimism is not a religion of peace. It's a religion of violence, terror and war all over the world, and we don't want nor will we allow it to be so here.

"The damage he’s done is already very significant," said Skanda Kadirgamar, 27, citing reports of increased threats against Muslims. "Donald Trump is here to pour gasoline onto those fires."

No, Skanda, Donald Trump didn't pour gasoline onto any fires. Muslims did that when they murdered 14 people in San Bernardino and seriously wounded 22 more. Donald Trump is here to make sure there are no more such "fires" entering our country, so we can focus on figuring out what to do about the ones that are already here.

Donald Trump didn't cause this problem, Muslims did. It's your problem, it's your religion, your people caused it, and unless you solve it, Americans will solve it. We're not going to spend money chasing, monitoring, looking for, checking, prosecuting, and cleaning up after Muslim Terrorists who don't know how to behave and get along with people because of their religion. We're not going to live with "terror alerts" because of your religion. We're not going to make our citizens watch their backs, spy on their neighbors, worry about the next crazy Muslim that's going to shoot up their Christmas Party, Army Base or Grocery Store or blow up their office building. We're not going to put up with it any more.

No American, including Donald Trump, is picking on Muslims because you have a peaceful religion, it's because you don't. Every day for almost 20 years, our lives have been disrupted and our quiet enjoyment of our nation and resources diminished in one way or another because of your non-peaceful religion. We have troops in Afghanistan dealing with the Muslim beliefs of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. We have troops in Iraq dealing with the Muslim beliefs of the Shias, Sunnis, Bath, Kurds and ISIS. We're sending bombers, weapons, ammunition and money to Syria dealing with the Muslim beliefs of the Syrians, and we send billions a year to Israel because of the Muslim beliefs of Iran, the Palestinians, and other nations in the region.

Every time someone from your religion kills our people, we suffer incredible loss of liberty, self-confidence, domestic tranquility, peaceful and quiet enjoyment of our nation, because of your religion.

We will not tolerate this any more. Americans should have stood up to this after the first World Trade Center bombing, but we were stupid, uninformed and lied to about this whole situation and have been lied to every day since by Muslims and even our own government. So please don't delude yourselves by judging Americans on our past conciliatory behavior. Those days are over.

The last thing any of you should want is the wrath of 250 million pissed-off Americans chasing your asses out of here. And any fool who continues to think that your exploitation of our First Amendment is going to protect you, then you need to think again. The First Amendment protects US, not you. It protects Donald Trump's right to free speech recommending the first sensible policy to end this nightmare in our country that's been offered up by any politician on this subject in the past 20 years and guess what? That's exactly what's going to happen.

We're done with this. At such time as your religion proves itself to be a peaceful religion wherever it exists, then our position will adjust accordingly. But so long as there is violence, war, strife, threats, killings, bombings and attacks by members of your religion in the name of your religion, then there must be a ban on Muslim immigration to stop the flow of the risk, problems and "fires" of Muslimism entering the United States and extreme vigilance dealing with the ones already here.

You're a self-centered, ungrateful lot. You have no shame, you take no responsibility, you just demand and whine about yourselves even in the midst of horrific mind-boggling tragedy. That's all you did after 9/11. It's all you're doing now. You demonstrate no sympathy, no compassion, no empathy at all of any kind anywhere for anyone except yourselves. It's all about you and your religious label.

To Americans, that is disgusting and unacceptable, and trust me, it will not be allowed to continue in the United States. The American People are going to grind this crap to its proper end, because we're not going to live this way.

This is the United States, and
We are The Americans.

We not only control what
happens here,

We decide what happens here.

Welcome To America where it's
our way or the highway.

Absolutely! I'm ready to chase them all out. Time for a rally of our own!