A Muslim University of Michigan student lied when she told police in
the days following the election of President-elect Donald Trump that
 a man had threatened to set her on fire if she didn’t remove her hijab,
 the Ann Arbor Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.
 The FBI and university police had been investigating the report as
 a hate crime.
“Investigators conducted witness interviews and reviewed multiple
 surveillance videos of the area in question,” the department said.
 “During the course of the investigation, numerous inconsistencies
in the statements provided by the alleged victim were identified.
 Following a thorough investigation, detectives have determined
the incident in question did not occur.”
The woman who made the claim, who has not been identified, could
 face criminal charges, investigators said. The case has been
 forwarded to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office for Review.
In her Nov. 11 police report, the woman claimed that she had 
complied with the man’s request that she remove her hijab, a
 traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women, and he let her go
without harming her. She went so far as to describe the alleged
assailant as a white male between the ages of 20-30, with an average
 height and athletic build, bad body odor, an unkempt appearance
and slurred speech due to intoxication.

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Reports of the incident set U-M students on edge and became part
 of a national narrative that Trump’s supporters had been emboldened
by his election and were engaging in Islamophobia. Days of unrest,
protests and vigils followed at U-M and across the country.

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The incident was one of several reports around the country of threats,
 intimidation and racially charged violence in the days following
Trump’s historic election. Muslim leaders in southeast Michigan
across the United States worried that Trump’s fiery rhetoric had
 normalized Islamophobia.
“Since the election, we’ve seen a big uptick in incidents of vandalism, 
threats, intimidation spurred by the rhetoric surrounding Mr. Trump’s
election,” Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law
Center, told USA Today. “The white supremacists out there are
celebrating his victory and many are feeling their oats.”
In his first extensive interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” the
 Sunday after his election, Trump said he was “saddened” to hear of
reports of violence among some of his supporters and directly
 addressed them.
“I would say don’t do it, that’s terrible, 'cause I’m gonna bring this
country together,” he responded when reporter Lesley Stahl shared
reports of harassment directed at Latinos and Muslims. “I am so
 saddened to hear that. And I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it — if it helps. I will
 say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it.”
Photo via Shuttestock