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A pro-Palestinian protester wearing a keffiyeh scarf has been charged with violating a suburban New York City county’s new law banning face masks in public, reviving fears from opponents that the statute is being used to diminish free speech rights, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Police said the 26-year-old North Bellmore resident was arrested on Sunday afternoon during a protest in front of Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, an orthodox synagogue near the New York City borough of Queens.
According to the AP, Nassau County police department spokesperson Scott Skrynecki said Thursday that officers questioned the man because he had been concealing his face with a keffiyeh, which has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people.
Police on the scene asked him if he was wearing the garment for medical or religious purposes, which are the two major exceptions to the new ban, according to Skrynecki. When the man confirmed he was wearing it in solidarity with Palestinians and not for either of those reasons, he was placed under arrest, Skrynecki said. He was released with a notice to appear in court on 2 October.
The AP reports that videos showing some of the arrest have been shared on social media. They show the man wearing the keffiyeh around his neck as he is led away by officers in handcuffs and continues to lead others in pro-Palestinian chants.
The man did not respond to the AP’s calls and social media messages seeking comment Thursday.
Rachel Hu, a spokesperson for ANSWER Coalition, which organised a rally this week against the arrest, said the man is now seeking legal counsel and will not be commenting on the case until then.
She added that organisers believe the man was targeted as one of the leaders of Pro-Palestinian protest movements on Long Island.
“We feel that this arrest (and this ban overall) was aimed at intimidating known activists to discourage us from using our first amendment right to protest,” Hu wrote in an email.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the arrest as proof that the local law was being used as a “silencing tactic” against Palestinian supporters.
“Barring other criminal misconduct, wearing a keffiyeh or a mask does not make you suspicious,” Lamya Agarwala, supervising attorney for the organisation, said in a statement. “Using this policy to arrest protesters is an affront to our fundamental rights as Americans.”
Skrynecki responded that police officers, as with all laws, “enforce the mask transparency act equally and fairly regardless of the demographics of the defendant”.
A spokesperson for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman didn’t respond to the critiques, according to the AP, but confirmed the Republican, who is Nassau’s first Jewish county executive, was at the synagogue at the time of the protest.
Sunday’s arrest is among the first under the Mask Transparency Act approved by Nassau County’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Blakeman last month.
The Guardian picture desk has shared a couple of images that show smoke and flames rising after the Israeli army launched attacks on Al Mahmudiyah, located in southern Lebanon.
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