Sikh men denied access to US stadium, harassed
SAN FRANCISCO: A group of Sikh men were harassed by security staff and denied access to a stadium in San Diego city in California for an American football game because they were wearing turbans.
Verinder Malhi and his friends, who drove seven hours from Fresno to see the Broncos-chargers game on December 6, were told they could be allowed to enter only after they remove their turbans. “Three of my buddies, they had turbans on, and it (was like, you guys got to take the turbans off,” said Malhi, one of the men.
Security guards finally allowed them into the Qualcomm Stadium with their turbans, but Malhi claimed a security supervisor told him that if they ever come back, they cannot wear turbans. “It’s bad, I mean, this is embarrassing for me, because we are Americans at the end of the day. And we are not supposed to be afraid of fellow Americans ” he said.
Their humiliation was not complete and their car was subjected to a search by a bomb-sniffing dog.
A fearful fan called police and claimed three men wearing turbans were fiddling with items in their trunk, and had then left the parking lot. Police said the dog cleared the car.
Malhi said they had simply put a bag in the car after realising they were not allowed to take it in the stadium.
“Everybody kind of confusing us with the turbans, because what you see on TV is mostly the terrorists they wear turbans. But our turban is different, our faith is different, our beliefs are different,” Malhi said.
Last week, a gurdwara was vandalised in Los Angeles suburbs with hateful graffiti addressed towards the Islamic State, Sikh community leaders have said, fearing this “hate crime” is a repercussion of the California shooting carried out by a husband and wife in which 14 people were killed