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NYC Yemenis close bodegas to protest Trump travel ban

Strike supported by more than 2,000 people aimed to highlight the role of immigrant labour in the city.

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Yemeni strike NYC
Hundreds gather at Brooklyn Borough Hall in the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood in the early afternoon. Organisers set the eight-hour strike from 12pm and planned a rally for nightfall, but participants began to arrive immediately after closing their stores. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
By Kelly Lynn Lunde
Published On 3 Feb 2017

New York City, United States – Hundreds of Yemeni Americans in New York shut their shops on Thursday in a city-wide strike protesting against the Donald Trump administration’s executive order banning visitors from seven Muslim-majority nations, including Yemen.

More than 2,000 people gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall in Brooklyn Heights to oppose Trump’s ban, in an effort to highlight the role of immigrant labour in the city.

Approximately 80,000 Yemeni-American citizens and green card holders live in the five boroughs of New York City.

Many of them own the “bodegas” which were shuttered in protest. The small grocery shops and delis keep long hours and often serve as informal gathering places for neighbourhood residents.

Some protesters had relatives with pending US visa applications that are now on hold.

Arafat Aljamal of Crown Heights Deli and Grocery, 28, had applied for his wife and son to join him but was notified a few days ago that their case was suspended.

“Every single day I worry about them,” says Aljamal, speaking of the increasingly protracted war in Yemen.

“We have the rights to bring our families from back home. Everybody does.”

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Wagdi Naji, 20, who owns Unity Grocery on President Street in Crown Heights together with his father, smokes a cigarette shortly before closing the shop around noon. 'I got a wife and daughter back in Yemen. I want to bring them but now I can't,' said Wagdi. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Originally from Sana'a, Mohammed Almashmally stands with his sons Ahmed (11) and Zachariah (7). 'There are a lot of people being held in the airports. This is why where are here together today. Everybody now is affected by the [executive actions], not only Muslims." Almashmally joined the strike closing five of his own businesses. 'We love this country. I don’t know why he came up with these laws. I have friends who have been sent back from JFK and people stuck in Djibouti and Malaysia, all over.' [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Arafat Aljamal, 28, who is on first-name terms with most customers, prepares an egg sandwich just before closing Crown Heights Deli and Grocery. 'I'm not concerned just as a businessman. I grew up in this neighbourhood, I learned in these schools and I have a lot of friends and relatives and everyone here, they are like family to me, not just regular customers.' Aljamal's pregnant wife Thikra and nine-year-old son Yasser are back home in Aden on the coast of Yemen. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Hagaan Aljamal, 30, closes down Crown Heights Deli and Grocery as his father Mohammed looks on. Mohammed owns the bodega with his friend and partner Ali Saleh, also from Yemen. With the exception of today, in 40 years of co-ownership, the men have never closed the store apart from on scheduled holidays. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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'Everyone is welcome here,' says 12-year-old Ahmad Shehan, after being hoisted up during a chant. 'This is New York City for everybody. Donald Trump is garbage. He don’t know nothing. He's crazy.' Ahmad came from the Ibb province in Yemen just one year ago and has since learned English. 'I study in my home every day.' [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Qaisar Alnaham, 17, prays with hundreds in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall. 'I came here to protest against Trump,' says the teen, whose family owns a Manhattan bodega and came over from Sana'a in 2013. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Participants observe afternoon Muslim prayers around 3pm. News of the strike was spread via Facebook and word of mouth. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Ahmed Almakrai, 16, came to New York with his parents and five siblings three years ago. 'We deserve more. He can't just one day change everything. At least he's got to show some respect,' says the teenager whose parents own a bodega in Manhattan. 'He needs to take his words back. This is about the whole world - it’s something important.' [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Usama Husaibi, 19, bows for the evening Maghrib prayer on an American flag just before the planned rally. He came with his family one year ago. They own a deli in Brooklyn Heights. 'I came to say no to Trump. No wall, no ban.' [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Protesters hoist each other up and march through surrounding pavements near Brooklyn Borough Hall echoing chants such as 'What do we want? Justice!' and 'No ban, No wall, USA is for all!' [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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While participants gathered immediately after closing up shop around 12pm, the demonstration lasted into the evening, with a rally featuring public officials and local Yemeni citizens and activists. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]
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Towfeik Alkubadi, 52, stands behind the counter of 369 Deli Grocery Inc with signs that customers had posted on the door while he and co-owner and nephew Mohammed were away at the demonstration. 'It made me cry,' he says, with a slight Brooklyn accent despite a childhood spent in Yemen. He offered visitors coffee on the house for the rest of the evening after returning to re-open his 24-hour bodega in the Park Slope neighbourhood of Brooklyn. [Kelly Lynn Lunde/Al Jazeera]