ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Police in Michigan are debunking a Muslim student’s allegation that was widely cited as an example of a spike in anti-Muslim incidents in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
The woman reported that a man approached her in mid-November near the University of Michigan campus and threatened to set her on fire if she didn’t remove her hijab. The Ann Arbor Police Department said Wednesday the account “did not occur.”
Police say evidence disproving it included surveillance footage.
Michigan’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said at the time the report incident was “just the latest anti-Muslim incident” since Trump’s Nov. 8 win.
CAIR’s national spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, said Wednesday the false report shouldn’t be used to discredit what he called the “many, many incidents of anti-Muslim hate.”
