Texas Muslims Heckled: ‘We Don’t Want You Here!’
Texas Muslims were heckled by a small group of protesters during a rally at the capitol Thursday.
The protesters, who said the state of Texas belonged to followers of Christ, held signs and banners while shouting that Muslims should go back to the Middle East. During opening remarks at the Texas Muslim Capitol Day event, an activist from Michigan grabbed the microphone from the speaker’s hand and said the following.
“I proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ over the capitol of Texas. I stand against Islam. Islam will never dominate the United States, and by the grace of God, it will not dominate Texas.”
After regaining the microphone, Ruth Nasrullah, who is a spokeswoman for CAIR Texas, said the outburst served as a reminder of the necessity for the Muslims’ presence at the Capitol.
The protesters, who included a group of people describing themselves as Christian activists, heckled the Muslims while they sang the national anthem. In addition, they attempted to interrupt the scheduled speakers, who were calling for religious tolerance in Texas and the rest of the United States.
The shouted taunts and signs were many.
“We don’t want you here!”
“I am the infidel Allah warned you about!”
#Texas lawmaker demands Muslim visitors take loyalty oath, protest disrupts lobby day http://t.co/CvbgQ3jleZ #txlege http://t.co/Si0KAPX1QG
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) January 30, 2015
Discord happened inside the Texas Capitol as well as outside. Rep. Molly White (R-Belton) said she had placed the flag of Israel on her reception desk and had instructed her staff to ask Muslims who visited to pledge allegiance to the United States and renounce Islamic terrorists. “We will see how long they stay in my office,” she posted on Facebook.
People are not normally heckled during what is usually a quiet legislative session, throughout which groups representing varying interests ranging from professions to religions to areas of the state of Texas spend a day meeting lawmakers for special citizen lobbying. The clash between protesters and Muslims led to denunciations from lawmakers as well as from civil rights and religious groups.
“The problem that even the lawmakers have – they don’t know Muslims,” Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of CAIR Texas, told reporters for Tribune News Service.
“And any time anything happens anywhere in the world, they’re asking Muslims to denounce something they have nothing to do with. If you want a denunciation ask those people who did it.”
As a recent report by the Inquisitr states, attacks against Muslims in Europe have escalated since 17 murders were carried out by Islamic extremists during a terror spree in Paris. The derisive statements made by U.S. protesters appear mild in comparison. According to MSN News, the Texas Department of Public Safety made no arrests, as Muslims participating in the rally were verbally heckled rather than physically attacked.
[Image: The Associated Press]
