Two arrested for ripping masks off Jews in Brooklyn assault
Pair charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime after alleged anti-Semitic attack in Williamsburg
Two people were arrested for allegedly ripping face masks off of identifiably Jewish people in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City.
Police said Clelia Pinho, 46, and Paulo Pinho, 35, accosted three men Sunday, pulling the masks off their faces and making anti-Semitic remarks falsely blaming Jews for the coronavirus outbreak.
The pair were arrested on charges of aggravated harassment as a hate crime. Information on their lawyers wasn’t immediately available.
They stopped their car after noticing a group of Hasidic Jews on the corner, and got out while shouting what police described as anti-Semitic slurs, and complaining that many were not wearing masks or practicing appropriate social distancing. They then tried to remove the face masks of several men.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack “unacceptable” and said Monday: “We don’t accept bias in New York City. We don’t accept hate in any form.”