Photo by Ronnie R.

Following an alleged act of harassment at Shaw Library, protesters will respond tomorrow afternoon to “reclaim safe space for Muslim women.”

Collective Action for Safe Spaces and the Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum are organizing a 2 p.m. rally to get public institutions to better address harassment and discrimination. The Women Wearing Headscarves event was planned in response to an alleged incident on Wednesday afternoon where a library officer asked a Muslim woman to take off her hijab, and then threatened her with arrest when she refused.

On Wednesday afternoon, Jessica Raven was sending emails from a computer at Shaw Library when she says she saw the interaction.

“All I heard was he started asking her to take off her hijab. My jaw dropped,” Raven said. “The man next to her spoke up, but the officer continued to harass her. Ultimately he came towards her in an intimidating way, pulled out his handcuffs and said if she didn’t want to take off [the hijab], she had to leave.” The woman left.

Raven, the interim executive director of Collective Action for Safe Spaces, contacted Darakshan Raja, the co-founder of the Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum, who posted on Facebook about the incident and asked people to contact the D.C. Public Library and others about it. The tweets poured in.

The library apologized and said it removed the officer in question from the location as it investigates the incident.

Huffington Post tracked down D.C. Public Library Officer Timothy Craggette, the officer at the center of the incident. He said he accidentally mistook the woman’s hijab for a hoodie.

“I would apologize to her if she was Muslim,” he told Huffington Post. “She never identified herself as Muslim. I’m sorry for the library and I’m sorry for her. I hope something positive comes out of this.”

The organizations behind the rally are encouraging people to tweet their own experiences with harassment with the hashtag #HoodieOrHijab.

Additionally, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum, and Many Languages, One Voice in a statement are calling upon the DCPL to do more than apologize.

“We urge D.C. institutions to examine and strengthen their institutional procedures and responses to address discrimination and harassment, particularly against Muslim communities,” it says in part, including a public information campaign and improved staff training at DCPL, and a listening session for Muslims at the D.C. Council.

For those who want to attend Saturday’s event, organizers ask that attendees “please bring a headscarf and signs,” or bring a hoodie as a non-Muslim ally.

Updated with new hashtag and with information from the Huffington Post report.