A petition calling for justice for an Otago Muslim teenager who was attacked at her school has more than 42,000 signatures just a day after it launched.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Benchill
Hoda Al-Jamaa was sitting with her friends at Otago Girls' High School last week when three girls approached and started beating her while they filmed the attack.
The 17-year-old had her hijab ripped off and suffered a concussion.
The Islamic Women's Council said the attack appeared to be a hate crime.
A Change.org petition is calling for the school to address the attack, and for people to unite against hatred and bigotry.
Hoda's story even attracted the attention of American model Bella Hadid - who is of Palestinian and Dutch heritage.
Hoda told RNZ the attack occurred when three girls asked her and her friends how to swear in Arabic and started taunting them.
"Two of the girls held me and one hit me and after I fell on the ground, she ... was still hitting my face and my body. I was waiting for the teacher to help me," Hoda said.
The girls then took her hijab off and continued filming her and the video has now been shared with boys and girls around the school.
"My hijab... is my culture and my religion. My hijab is everything for me and I love my hijab and those other girls love their hijabs."
The attackers tried to do the same to Hoda's two other friends.
It was not the first violent attack she had been involved in and she frequently had the fingers pulled at her and called a terrorist by other students, she said.
Police said the offenders had been identified.
"On Wednesday 9 February, a group of Muslim students from Otago Girls' High School were verbally and physically attacked by three other females students all aged in their early teens," police said.
"In the altercation a young woman's hijab was pulled from her head. The altercation and the possibility of the video circulating on social media, is very concerning to us.
"The three alleged offenders have been identified, and an active investigation into the incident is underway.
"This altercation has caused significant disquiet and distress for the girls, their families, and the wider Muslim community. We are treating this incident with the utmost urgency and care. Violence or threatening behaviour including any involving hate, hostility, or prejudice regarding race, faith, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or age is not acceptable.
"We ask anyone who believes they have been a victim of hate crime to contact us on 105, or if you are in immediate danger or a crime is happening now please call 111."
