Mamdani s NYC primary win sparks surge in anti Muslim posts advocates say

WASHINGTON - Anti-Muslim online posts targeting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have surged since his Democratic primary upset this week, including death threats and comments comparing his candidacy to the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, advocates said on June 27.

There were at least 127 violent hate-related reports mentioning Mr Mamdani or his campaign in the day after polls closed, said CAIR Action, an arm of the Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group, which logs such incidents.

That marks a five-fold increase over a daily average of such reports tracked earlier this month, CAIR Action said in a statement.

Overall, it noted about 6,200 online posts that mentioned some form of Islamophobic slur or hostility in that day long time-frame.

Mr Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist and a 33-year-old state lawmaker, declared victory in June 24s primary after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded defeat.

Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mr Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor if he wins the November general election.

“We call on public officials of every party - including those whose allies are amplifying these smears - to unequivocally condemn Islamophobia,” said Mr Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Action.

The advocacy group said its hate monitoring system includes its own scraping and analysis of posts, online submissions by the public and notifications from law enforcement. About 62 per cent of the anti-Muslim posts against Mamdani originated on X, CAIR Action said.

People close to Republican President Donald Trump, including one of his sons, are among those spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric, advocates said.

Mr Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, wrote on X on June 25 that “New York City has fallen” while sharing a post that said New Yorkers had “voted for” 9/11. Also on June