Ahlul Bayt News Agency, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for an end to racial violence in the streets of the United States after a Muslim taxi driver was stabbed in Manhattan.
"It is disgraceful. We should feel safe on our streets," Bloomberg said.
He made the remarks after visiting Ahmad Sharif and his family on Thursday. The driver was injured by a 21-year-old filmmaker while working in the early hours of Tuesday.
The cab driver said he still sees the knife that stabbed him in his neck, face and shoulders every time he closes his eyes.
Police said Sharif was driving Michael Enright through Manhattan when the art student asked him about his religious beliefs and then reached through the cab's divider to attack him.
"Of course, it was for my religion -- he attacked me after he knows I was a Muslim," said Sharif.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Enright was quickly arrested, adding that he had been drunk that day and talked erratically when questioned by officers.
He is now being held without bail in a psychiatric ward until an arraignment next month on charges of attempted murder and assault, both as hate crimes.
Enright had recently been in Afghanistan filming a documentary and allegedly has screamed "Assalamo Alaikom," an Arabic greeting and salutation that translates to "Peace be upon you," before stabbing the driver, according to investigators.
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