NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Hundreds of Yemeni Americans braved the winter chill in New York on Thursday, closing bodega stores to protest against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries.
“Bodegas” — the city’s slang for go-to shops proffering everything from deli food to grocery staples to household goods — often keep long hours and are essential to the daily routines of many New Yorkers.
In a bid to highlight the role of immigrant labor in the city, protestors left their shops to stand shoulder to shoulder in a crowd crammed onto the steps of Brooklyn’s city hall, waving a sea of American flags and chanting “United We Stand Against the Muslim Ban” and “USA! USA!”
“No ban, no wall, justice for all,” they shouted, in reference to the Republican president’s plans to build a wall on the Mexican border as part of his tough new immigration policies.
Demonstrators held up homemade placards with slogans like “Muslim Lives Matter,” “Hate Will Never Make Us Great” and “Mr. Trump, Where’s Your Wife From?” in reference to the first lady’s Slovenian birth.
Several members of the mostly male crowd said the vast majority were Yemeni-Americans who were joining a public protest for the first time, closing their shops to send a message to the new commander-in-chief.
Trump’s explosive executive order came into effect last Friday, closing US borders to refugees for 120 days and to visa holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days.
Syrian refugees have been banned indefinitely.
The president said the measures were necessary to protect America from September 11, 2001 style extremist attacks and would allow authorities to determine whether visa procedure needed to be more severely vetted.
Don’t care about the money
The New York protesters said the ban was racist and unjust.
“We stand here for justice, for dignity,” said Yousef al-Baadani, 31, enveloped in a US flag knotted around his neck to fend off the chill.
Like many others he works in a bodega, his in Queens, which had either closed for the entire day or from noon to 8pm (0100 GMT Friday).
“Most of the stores closed today,” Baadani told AFP. Several of the protesters told AFP the protest would last until 8 pm.
“He held the people in the airport, he didn’t let them get into the United States. That’s racist,” said bodega manager Adam Zokari, 19, who said he knew two people detained on arrival before being released.
In the decade that he has lived in America, he said he had never seen anything like the travel ban.
“We don’t care about money, we just care about freedom and we need no racism inside this country,” said one protester, threatening more demonstrations and further shutdowns if necessary.
“We love America. It’s my country. It’s my family’s country. It’s everybody’s,” said bodega worker Walid Mohammad, 31, who said his visa-carrying brother was sent back while en route to New York.
Mohammad said he had lived in America for eight years and his father for 35 years. He had closed his store for eight hours, despite the business he would lose.
“We don’t feel bad,” he said. Sending a message to the 70-year-old billionaire turned president was the priority, he said: “We want to tell him, he did a lot of wrong.”
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