re: #341 austin_blue

Yes, it’s Eid. And apparently there was a little dustup at Rye Playland today when a group of Muslims went to the amusement park and women were not allowed to ride.

Police from at least nine other agencies converged on the park beginning at 3 p.m. after county police sought assistance in responding to the disturbance, which involved about 30 to 40 people. Twelve men and three women were arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct, and two park rangers were injured, authorities said. Two people were charged with felony assault after, officials said, they attacked park rangers.

The park was crowded with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, one of Islam’s two major holidays. Most were from community groups around New York City as part of a day-long event arranged by the Muslim American Society of New York.

Parks officials had “painstakingly” told the organizer about the headgear ban, said Deputy Parks Commissioner Peter Tartaglia, but he said that the rules might not have been communicated by the organizer to some attendees. The ban was implemented about four years ago to keep hats and other head coverings from landing on tracks and derailing rides.

“It’s a safety issue on rides. If it’s a scarf, you could choke,” Tartaglia said.

Accounts of what had happened varied, but everyone agreed the dispute began after park-goers were told the headgear ban applied to women wearing traditional Muslim head coverings, known as hijabs.

Tartaglia said once word of that got out there were “a lot of unhappy people.”

He said park officials were in the process of arranging refunds when members of the Muslim group got into a scuffle with each other.

More than a dozen people were arrested when some of the women were not allowed to ride (they were wearing hijabs) and there was some kind of dispute between several Muslims among the group.

The headgear ban was imposed by the park following a deadly derailment a couple of years ago and is meant for safety of everyone on the ride. I get that - and it’s unfortunate that the rules weren’t told to everyone participating ahead of time. Someone dropped the ball and instead of celebrating the day, we get a bunch of arrests.