Soaliha Iqbal (pictured) claims she was barred from entering the premises after refusing to remover her hijab
A Muslim woman has accused a popular Sydney pub of discrimination, claiming she was barred from entering unless she removed her hijab.
Soaliha Iqbal said she was lining up with friends to enter the Paragon Hotel in Circular Quay for dinner after attending a climate change protest in Sydney’s CBD on Friday night.
The 21-year-old journalism student alleges a hotel bouncer demanded she take off her religious veil in order to be allowed to enter the premises.
Paragon Hotel did not respond to repeated requests for comment when approached by Daily Mail Australia.
When she refused to remove her hijab, Ms Iqbal claims she was told by the bouncer to ‘stand aside’, which left her ‘humiliated’, outraged and in tears.
‘Before viewing my ID, the security pointed at my head and said ”take that off”,’ Ms Iqbal told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I didn’t initially respond because I was a bit shocked by the whole thing. He said again: ”Take it off”, ”what is it?” ”take it off”.
Ms Iqbal (pictured) said she felt like she was discriminated against and that she was unwelcome in her own city. ‘I still felt I was being treated this way because I wear a hijab,’ she said
‘At that point I was like ”what is going on?” I was so shocked and angry. I replied with: ”Are you serious? This is my hijab”.’
Ms Iqbal alleges the bouncer became ‘instantly defensive’ before telling her to step aside.
‘You’re overreacting, you need to calm down,’ the bounder told Ms Iqbal, she claimed.
Ms Iqbal said: ‘There was no dialogue, the first thing was ”take that off”. When I didn’t reply to that in a compliant way, I was told to stand aside.
‘I swore at him and walked away and had a bit of a cry because I didn’t know what to do.’
The student said she ‘didn’t know how to deal with it’ and decided to move away from the entrance.
‘It was really upsetting because it’s not the sort of thing you expect at all. Especially when you’ve been having a good day and you’re surrounded by your friends,’ she said.
‘I wanted to leave but I had a few friends who were like ”this is outrageous, unacceptable and we should say something”.’
Ms Iqbal and her friends then attempted to approach the entry to make a formal complaint with management.
But as the group stood outside the venue, they were approached by a police officer.
Footage shows Ms Iqbal (right) arguing with a hotel manager after being denied entry
Ms Iqbal said the group explained the altercation to the officer but were urged to ‘move along’.
The officer cited the NSW Liquor Act where people denied entry at a licensed premises are not allowed within 50 metres of the establishment.
She said her friends were not denied entry.
Ms Iqbal detailed her experience in a story for 5why.com.au, where she claims her group was ‘victim-shamed’ by police who attended the premises.
She said police were trying to play the ‘middle man’ and told her ‘there’s two sides to every story’.
The article includes footage of Ms Iqbal and her friends demanding answers from a hotel manager of whether the venue had an anti-hijab policy, which he says he couldn’t comment on.
Ms Iqbal said the manager kept going around in ‘circles’ and his explanations were ‘pointless’. She claims he refused to apologise.
The young writer took to social media on Friday night to describe her traumatic experience
Screenshots show Paragon’s response to Ms Iqbal’s Facebook post
‘Surely, if it was just a misunderstanding, management would be tripping over themselves to apologise? Is it really worth the PR nightmare that could ensue?,’ Ms Iqbal wrote.
The article also includes screenshots of messages claiming to be from the hotel’s group operations apologising afterwards for the ‘unfortunate incident’, saying it was the bouncer’s first shift at the hotel who wanted to show his new bosses he could carry out his duties diligently.
The manager claimed there was an misunderstanding and that the bouncer asked to remove her to remove hijab for ID purposes only.
‘We would never demand such a request and unreservedly apologise for his mistake and by no means wanted to cause you offence,’ a screenshot of the message sent from the pub’s Facebook page states.
Speaking to the ordeal, Ms Iqbal said she is disappointed she was forced to justify her position.
Soaliha Iqbal (pictured) claims she was accused by the Paragon Hotel and NSW Police for overreacting
Police are seen at Paragon during the incident. The officers were in the area for the climate change rally
‘The thing that I’m frustrated about is that everyone is questioning me swearing at the bouncer and nobody is really questioning why the bouncer upset me in the first place,’ she said.
Ms Iqbal said she has experienced Islamophobia in Australia in the past but not on this scale.
‘I’ve never ever in my life been treated like this by an establishment,’ she said.
‘I’ve never had a company be Islamophobic towards me.’
The 21-year-old said the establishment are still yet to apologise and she is left scratching her head about the encounter and how it escalated.
‘I haven’t talked to the bouncer [since]. Maybe through some bizarre means, he genuinely did misunderstand. I don’t know,’ she said.
The young woman alleged she was ‘victim-shamed’ by police (pictured questioning hotel staff)
‘And that’s part of the problem. I don’t understand why nobody actually explained what happened and apologised to me.
‘I still felt discriminated against, I still felt unwelcome in my own city. I still felt I was being treated this way because I wear a hijab.
‘If I wasn’t there with a group of friends who were angry on my behalf I probably would have gone home and cried.’
Ms Iqbal said it’s upsetting the incident wasn’t immediately rectified.
‘There was no apology and no attempt to actually rectify the issue, aside from constantly gas-lighting me by telling me that I’m just ”overreacting” and being ’emotional’,’ she claimed.
She added the incident felt ‘sexist’.
Ms Iqbal was hoping to enjoy dinner at the Paragon Hotel when she was allegedly denied entry
A NSW Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia officers attended the licensed premise ‘following an interaction between a private security guard and a group of people’.
The officers were in the area for the climate change rally.
‘Police were satisfied there was no criminal activity and provided advice to the group on how to lodge a formal complaint,’ the spokesman said.
‘Police remained at the location to prevent any breach of the peace. The group later dispersed without incident.’