Muslim school sues American city for 'swimming pool Islamophobia'

A Muslim school is suing the Delaware city where several children were asked to leave a public pool because of their cotton garments.

The News Journal reports the Darul Amaanah Academy says in the lawsuit filed on Wednesday that city staff harassed and discriminated against seven children because of their religion.

Then-pool manager Glenda Pinkett said policy prohibits cotton in the pool, but Mayor Mike Purzycki later said no such restriction exists.

The complaint said that despite discussion with city officials, the students were asked to leave the pool on several more occasions.

After Purczycki issued an apology, the school says staffers closed the pool before students could go in.

The city has since reassigned Pinkett and pledged to establish clearer policies, but didn't respond to the newspaper's request for comment.

Under US President Donald Trump, incidents of Islamophobia have increased sharply.

A Muslim civil rights group blasted Trump and his administration in April, saying his words and policies led to a sharp increase in attacks and bias against Muslims in 2017.

The number of reported anti-Muslim hate crimes and reported incidents of discrimination, bullying, harassment and other acts of anti-Muslim bias both jumped 15 percent last year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.

The group blames the increase on the president, particularly his push to ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. The ban now includes Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, along with non-Muslim North Korea and some Venezuelan officials. It originally also included Iraq.