Update: According to Pix 11 , Yasmin Seweid has been found . Further details have not yet been released.
In New Hyde Park, New York, a Muslim teen by the name of Yasmin Seweid has gone missing after she was reportedly harassed on a subway train. According to NBC News , the 18-year-old has been missing since Wednesday.
Seweid was last seen leaving her apartment in Long Island, New York, around 8 p.m. on December 1, according to police.
Seweid’s disappearance comes just days after she spoke out about being “harassed” on a train — apparently because she was wearing a hijab. She said that three men started bothering her and she claimed that they were talking about President-elect Donald Trump while doing so.
“Last Thursday, Seweid spoke out after she said she was harassed and intimidated by three men who tried to rip her hijab – a religious head scarf – off,” reports NBC News .
Police say that they have been searching for the men who allegedly harassed Yasmin Seweid at the 23rd Street subway station. Seweid’s neighbors in Hyde Park felt terrible after hearing what happened and many have expressed concern for the teen.
“I felt terrible so I went and bought her a bouquet of flowers and wrote a letter to her. They are wonderful people, they really are. She is a sweetheart,” said neighbor Carol Zanzonico.
Yasmin Seweid’s whereabouts are unknown. It is also unknown if the subway incident is at all related to Seweid’s disappearance. Anyone with any information about the incident or about Seweid’s whereabouts are asked to call the police.
“Police said she was last seen wearing a black jacket, black head scarf, black yoga pants and a blue sweater and was carrying a bag containing clothing. Detectives ask anyone with information to call the Nassau County Police Department Missing Persons Squad on 516-573-7347 or call 911.”
Below is the message that Yasmin Seweid posted on Facebook following the subway train incident.
“I initially was not planning on making a post about what happened yesterday, but you will probably be seeing stories about it on the news & in the newspaper tomorrow. I take the train every single day going to & coming from class, but yesterday, something happened that I never thought would happen to me. I was harassed on the subway last night and it was just so dehumanizing I can’t speak about it without getting emotional. Three white racists ripped the straps off my bag & attempted to yank my hijab off my head. They yelled such disgusting slurs at me, I was so helpless and felt defenseless. ‘Look it’s a[n] [expletive] terrorist,’ ‘go back to your country,’ ‘take that rag off your head,’ and so many more. Trump’s name was repeatedly said & it finally clicked in my head. No matter how “cultured” or ‘Americanized’ I am, these people don’t see me as an American. It breaks my heart that so many individuals chose to be bystanders while watching me get harassed verbally and physically by these disgusting pigs. Trump America is real and I witnessed it first-hand last night! What a traumatizing night. Please stay safe everyone & never let anyone take your rights away. Just thought I should share that with you all tonight.”
In an interview with the New York Daily News , Yasmin Seweid said that other passengers on that subway train did nothing to stop the harassment.
Immediately following the incident, Yasmin Seweid filed a police report. Since her phone was dying, she wasn’t able to call her family for help until she managed to get herself to Penn Station and find a phone charging station. Seweid called her father and he came to pick her up. The next day, Seweid sat down with police to look over some surveillance video so that she could identify the men that allegedly attacked her, this according to her father. Police still haven’t been able to locate the three men whom Seweid says were involved in the attack.
According to the New York Daily News , attacks of this nature have increased significantly since the U. S. election. Police say that there have been 34 incidents from Nov. 8 through Nov. 27. In 2015, that date range showed 13 attacks.
[Featured Image by Facebook ]