Man Berates Muslim Girls At Suburban Restaurant
UPDATE: Pepe's president apologizes
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A group of teen girls dining at a restaurant in the south suburbs of Chicago was verbally abused Monday by another patron, apparently because of their Muslim faith.
According to a post on Facebook, the girls, who were wearing religious headscarves, had finished dinner at Pepe's Mexican Restaurant in Hickory Hills at the end of their fast for Ramadan.
Sawim Osman and her friends say they were walking out when a man in a booth began insulting them.
"We didn't say anything to him. We were completely calm, just walking past him. He's the one who instigated the whole incident," Osman tells CBS 2's Dana Kozlov.
In the video posted online, the man says, "Go and beat it ... you don't like this country?"
"It's our home, too. What do you mean, leave?" one of the young women says.
When one of the friends tells the man he's "disgusting," he gets out of his seat. He then yells a series expletives and hateful epithets at the group.
Nour Jaghama, 16, says she is the one who confronted the man. When he stood up, she says, "I was like, no, he might actually get physical. I might get hurt."
The friends say they'll share the video with Hickory Hills police. The confrontation was upsetting to them, even 24 hours later.
A manager at Pepe's says the restaurant regrets the incident. Had staff been aware of it, they would have called police, he said.
Watch the video here (warning, language):
