The Mosque is off limits to the NYPD, not the surrounding area.
Via Biz Pac Review
Devout New York City Muslim cabbies got a rude awakening when they got tickets for double-parking outside a Manhattan mosque while they were inside saying Friday prayers for Ramadan.
One officer single-handedly placed nearly 100 tickets on cabs parked in the vicinity of the Islamic Cultural Center in the city’s Upper West Side neighborhood, cab driver Mohammad Zaman told the New York Post.
“This is a special prayer time, a time for religion. We double-park here every Friday and they [allow it], but today they gave us all tickets, almost 100 cabs,’’ he said.
Zaman, who has been a worshiper at the mosque for nine years, was ticketed, and it wasn’t cheap: $115 for double-parking.
This has never happened before,’’ he told the Post.
“I can’t help but to think they are being prejudiced. They don’t understand. We have to be here.”[…]
Another cabbie said Muslims aren’t allowed to miss Friday prayers.
“It is mandatory in our religion to come to the mosque every Friday. It’s our duty,” Mohammad Choudhury said.