Daily Times

A 12-year-old student in Waterbury, Connecticut, has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly assaulting two Muslim students. The attack occurred at a middle school, where the victims, 13-year-old twin girls, were punched, kicked, and had their hijabs forcibly removed. The assault was motivated by the victims’ religion and ethnicity, meeting the legal definition of a hate crime.

The girls were injured during the incident, with one suffering facial bruising and the other an abrasion on her neck. Their father took them to the hospital, where doctors confirmed the injuries. The attack took place during Ramadan, raising concerns about rising Islamophobia in the United States.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has urged stronger action against religiously motivated violence in schools. They reported that the twins had faced repeated harassment before the assault, with students mocking their religion and ethnicity. One of the attackers had also made threatening gestures toward the girls days before the incident.

Waterbury school officials have pledged to ensure students’ safety and prevent future incidents. The local police, initially investigating the incident as an assault, later reclassified it as a hate crime after the family provided additional details. CAIR has called for more efforts to combat Islamophobia, as reports of anti-Muslim bias reached record numbers in the U.S. last year.