The protest came after a secret document revealed that the NYPD recommended increased spying on thousands of Shia Muslims and their mosques, based solely on their religion, in the US Northeast.
The 2006 report, published on Thursday, was prepared for New York City’s Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. It suggested police expand covert operations at Shia mosques and included a list of mosques and community organizations stretching from southern New Jersey to Connecticut.
“The masses of people around this city are fed up with the police," City Councilman Charles Barron told protesters Friday.
“I am here today because I am horrified at the cascade of the Islamophobia in whole country, but especially in the New York City in my hometown,” protester Eva Lee Baird said.
“You can hate Muslims, that’s your business, but you can’t mistreat them. You have to protect them like the way you protect every other citizen and you must treat them like you treat other citizens and if you don’t spy on other American citizens, don’t spy on Muslims,” Imam Siraj Wahhaj of Masjid at-Taqwa said.
Meanwhile, 33 civil rights groups from around the country sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, calling for an investigation into increased surveillance of Shia mosques.
"The need to hold the NYPD accountable for its flagrant use of discriminatory policing practices has never been more glaring and urgent," the letter says.
Schneiderman’s office, however, did not comment on the letter.
This is while the NYPD is prohibited, under its own guidelines and city law, from basing its investigations on religion.
