A Muslim woman was reportedly refused entry into a nightclub in Australia after she refused to remove her hijab when a bouncer told her to.
Twenty-one-year-old Soaliha Iqbal was barred from entering the Paragon Hotel by a bouncer there, who reportedly withheld her ID before confronting her about the hijab. Iqbal had been attending a climate protest in Sydney’s CBD, and then the security guard instructed her to take off the veil covering her head.
In a later blog post on 5why.com.au Iqbal wrote: "Never, in my whole life, have I been treated so badly by an establishment ... Instead of apologizing, the bouncer told me I was the problem for overreacting to a simple request."
She continued: "I was humiliated, I felt violated, and more than that - now I was being gaslit to convince me that my response to the violation of my basic rights was an ‘over-reaction.'"
Police were summoned to the scene of the disagreement, and Iqbal claims that one officer tried to intimidate us into moving away and didn’t back her up.
Related - Female football players have an incredible response after opponent loses her headscarf during a game:Iqbal later made a formal complaint to the hotel.
Craig Wesker, the group operations manager for Ryan’s Hotel Group, replied via Facebook, and that the doorman responsible for the dispute was working his first shift on the job. Wesker wrote: "Due to this diligence when checking your ID and trying to ensure he had facial recognition he asked you to remove your hijab interpreting it as only a headscarf."
He continued: "He asked you to step to one side so he could talk to you further about it. This action appears to have been interpreted by you (incorrectly) as the Security Personal (sic) denying you entry, for you refusing to remove your hijab. We would never demand such a request and unreservedly apologize for his mistake and by no means wanted to cause you offense."
