Closed for business: NYC Yemen shop-owners protest Trump ban

Yemeni shop-owners in New York held an eight hour strike earlier this week to protest Trump's Muslim ban in a show of solidarity with family members affected by the order.
Society
2 min read
The New Arab
04 February, 2017
At least 1,000 Yemeni-owned shops were shut down across New York on Thursday, to protest Donald Trump's controversial ban that affects Yemen and six other Muslim-majority nations.

Thousands of New York's Yemeni community – one of the largest in the United States – took action this week to condemn the Muslim ban, in a move that brought together the 'United immigrants of America' as noted by placards at the rally.

“This shutdown of grocery stores and bodegas will be a public show of the vital role these grocers and their families play in New York’s economic and social fabric and, during this period, grocery store owners will spend time with their families and loved ones to support each other; many of these families have been directly affected by the Ban,” the strike organisers said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a fundraising page that was created to support the participating businesses raised nearly $10,000 in just two days.

Trump suspended the entry of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and all refugees in a controversial order signed on January 27. 

But the move was blocked by US District Judge James Robart on Friday, after an international backlash condemned the "immoral, unethical and un-American ban".

 

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