An alleged attack on an 11-year-old girl wearing a hijab as she walked to school did not happen, Toronto Police said on Monday. Police had been investigating the incident as a hate crime after the girl said that a man wielding a pair of scissors cut her hijab as she walked to school with her brother on Friday morning. Staff at the girl’s school made the call to police on Friday, “as they would in any other case,” Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird wrote in an email. “We are very thankful that this assault did not happen.”Monday’s revelation comes amid heightened pressure on Canadian governments to combat anti-Muslim sentiment as the first anniversary of a fatal mosque shooting approaches. Researchers have documented an increase in far-right extremist activity in Canada, much of it targeting Muslims.

Source: Hindustan Times January 16, 2018 03:22 UTC