ANAHEIM, Calif. (CN) — Orange County and its sheriff’s department violated county policy and the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections when deputies removed a protester’s hijab, exposing her uncovered hair to news cameras, and then coerced her and another Muslim woman to remove their head coverings for booking photos, the women claim in a lawsuit.
Salma Nasoordeen and Shenai Aini, both in their 20s, were arrested during the Orange County and other local law enforcement’s raid on the student Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of California, Irvine on May 15, 2024.
In their complaint filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Aini claims that at the protest, she was surrounded by male law enforcement officers who threw her to the ground while stomping on her hijab, causing it to unravel, all while local news cameras filmed and broadcast the scene…