Amish attacks
Seven men have been charged with religious hate-crime in the US state of Ohio following a number of hair-cutting attacks in the Amish community.
According to the US Department of Justice, Amish men and women have had their beards and hair cut in a spate of assaults. The attacks have been blamed on a ‘breakaway group’ in the community, with Amish setting upon Amish, according to the BBC.
Perhaps ironically, the named leader of the group is called Samuel Mullet, 66. Three of his sons are among those detained, prosecutors said.
It is alleged that they forcibly restrained multiple Amish men and cut off their beards and head hair with scissors and battery-powered clippers. One man in his 70s was set upon by his own son, who wrestled his father to the floor and cut the hair on his head and beard.
Such incidents are viewed as particularly offensive in the conservative Amish community, where women do not cut their hair and men grow beards once they marry.
