A group of 500 Muslim workers from Grand Island's JBS Swift & Co. plant staged a protest Monday afternoon.
Members of the B shift (3 to 11:30 p.m.) and some members of the morning A shift walked off the job after being denied time to pray during what they said is the holiest of times for them -- Ramadan.
A group of protesting women said they were kicked by a supervisor when they attempted to pray at work.
Asha Abdi said she knelt to pray when the supervisor said, "You can't pray here," kicked her feet and told her to go home.
Another woman, Hawo Mohammed, said she told her production supervisor she needed to go to the bathroom. She attempted to pray quickly in the bathroom until the male supervisor followed her in and told her she was taking too long.
"The main point is freedom for religion," said Ridwan Abbi, a second-shift production worker who gladly supported his peers.
The workers said they pray about four to five times a day -- two times of which fall during the A shift schedule and two of which fall during the B shift.
"The company said we aren't going to give you any time to pray, but this is a free country," said Ahmed Abdi, a spokesman for the largely Somalian group, who formerly worked at the plant. "We are Muslim and this country is about freedom."
The protesters walked about a mile from the Swift plant to Grand Island City Hall about 3:30 p.m. Monday carrying hand-lettered signs professing religious freedom.
After grouping in the parking lot at Grand Island City Hall, waving American flags and speaking to the media for about 20 minutes, the march continued into downtown Grand Island.
Grand Island police officers stopped Highway 30 traffic on Second Street as the protesters peacefully weaved their way through downtown.
Abdi said the protests will continue with each shift until something is done.
"Enough is enough," he said. "We came to City Hall today to let the leaders know this is serious."
A call to Swift's corporate office in Greeley, Colo., was not returned, but the company has apparently reacted to similar conflicts in Greeley by terminating workers.
Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid was quoted by Colorado media that more than 100 workers at the Greeley plant had been fired last week after a similar prayer dispute involving Muslim workers there.
Ramadan involves fasting from dawn until dusk until the month-long holy season ends Oct. 1 with a feasting celebration known as Eid ul-Fitr.
Last spring about 125 Somali workers resigned from the Grand Island Swift plant, but about 70 returned to work after Swift and the workers' union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 22, worked on the issue. The plant said then it couldn't accommodate prayer time, but did move many Somalis to earlier shifts that better fit their prayer schedule.
