Banner day for Yemenis
NY biz owners shut down in revolt
Hundreds of Yemeni-American business owners closed up shop across the city Thursday to protest President Trump’s immigration ban, and later joined thousands of protesters at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
“No ban! No wall! USA for all!” the crowd chanted Thursday evening on the stairs and plazas outside Borough Hall.
“I don’t care about your religion, your color, what country you are from. We are all human,” explained Malek Uhaib, a 26-year-old Yemeni who lives in Jamaica, Queens, and works at Smash Grill, one of the roughly 1,000 businesses that shut down from noon to 8 p.m. in protest of Trump’s temporary travel ban on non-US citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Yemen.
“Even if I lose money, I will achieve democracy,” said Coney Island resident Nader Muhar- ram, 34, the owner off Metro Finest Deli in Downtown Brooklyn.
He expected to lose at least $2,000, but felt compelled to act.
“We have to close, e, otherwise no one iss going to listen to us. Unconstitutional orders are being placed on us. We have to go out and let the people know that this is not acceptable,” he said.
At 5:15 p.m., the crowd at Borough Hall gathered to publicly pray. “We are all brothers,” Uhaib said as thousands waved American and Yemeni flags. “Together, we will make America great again.”
Sal Altaheri, 57, a retired MTA supervisor from Boerum Hill, noted many of those banned from entering the country had green cards.
“Families who are legally permitted to enter this country are being barred,” he fumed. “They obtained their visas legally legally, they have all the documentation, background checks. They have been to the consulate. They paid so much money to come here, and now they can’t come here.”
Mudhash Alnjar, 45, who shut down his Superior Market & Deli in Crown Heights for the day, said, “Mr. Trump isn’t allowing my people in my country, and now he wants to kick out ones who are already here. Some of them have green cards . . . It’s not fair.”