Westchester County Police put out a mutual aid call to police departments throughout the area including New Rochelle. Six officers, unofficially, responded to the scene. 15 people were arrested.
The incident began as a dispute among several Muslim women at the park as part of an outing to celebrate the end of Ramadan. When other women in their group attempted to intervene, the dispute escalated into a melee involving several women. When Westchester County police intervened, several Muslim men got involved and an “all hands on deck” call went out throughout the County. Police officers were seen racing to the scene on I-95 and I-287.
Some of the women had been denied access to rides at the Westchester County-owned amusement park based on a policy that prohibits wearing head coverings on certain rides such as the Dragon Coaster. Some of the women were wearing hijabs, traditional Muslim scarves.
The trip was organized by the Muslim American Society of New York, which according to news accounts planed to bring 3,000 people to Rye, NY from locations around New York City, Long Island and Westchester County.
This story is almost guaranteed to go national by tomorrow morning.
Developing…
HEADLINE
County POLICE, not County Place.