A Southern Californian restaurant has been sued by seven Muslim women because of discrimination. They were being banished out of the café while dining in April.
Six of the women who wore hijabs were told to leave Urth Caffe located in Laguna Beach because of the policy being violated having only a sitting limit of about 45 minutes according to the employees.
"What began as a night out with some friends ended as a painful and embarrassing reminder of what it is like to be visibly Muslim - even in liberal California," one of the women, Sara Farsakh, 29, wrote in a Facebook post soon after the April 22 incident. "By visibly Muslim, I mean women who wear the hijab, or headscarf," as quoted by Time.
According to the women, they were escorted by police officers out of the café for violating the restaurant's 45-minute limit table time. Based on the civil rights lawsuit there has been a similarity of racially charged incidents at the said café targeting Muslims which is something the police denied.
"CAIR-LA is investigating the matter and is very concerned about the possible bias motive involved in this incident in the wake of recent events in which Muslims were kicked off a plane or refused service simply for allegedly being Muslim," said Hussam Ayloush, the organization's executive director.
Some customers dining in the café told one of the plaintiffs, Farsakh that they have been there before she and her friends came while another group of women claimed of being there for almost four hours, said CAIR, CBS News reported.
Dan Stormer is the law firm that represents the women stated that it is clear his clients were targeted because of their religion. Shallom Berkman, the restaurant owner denied discriminating against the women and pointed out that his wife was a Muslim, as reported by Yahoo News.
The restaurant has before been the spot of anti-Muslim crimes, mentioning the lawsuit. Incidence of some people throwing eggs at Muslim customers in the restaurant, slashing of their tires and shouting offensive words at them happened in March and April.
