Paris Restaurant ‘Refuses to Serve Muslim Women’

Paris, 6 Dzulqa’dah 1437/9 August 016  (MINA)  – Social media users have expressed anger after a video posted online appeared to show two Muslim women in France being told to leave a restaurant by a man, reportedly the eatery’s boss, who called all Muslims “terrorists”.

“Terrorists are Muslims, and all Muslims are terrorists. This sentence says it all, analyse it,” the man was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying in the video released on Sunday.

The incident reportedly took place the night before at the Le Cenacle restaurant in Tremblay-en-France, an area on the suburbs of the capital Paris.

“People like you, I don’t want them here,” he continued, “you are imposing yourself here […] get out.”

The women, one of whom appeared in the video wearing a headscarf, said they would leave.

Reports in France said that the man apologised on Sunday to a group of young people and members of the local Muslim community who had gathered outside Le Cenacle to ask him to explain his comments.

The restaurateur reportedly said one of his friends had died in the attack on the Bataclan concert hall in November 2015.

In a message on Twitter, Laurence Rossignol, the French minister for families, children and women’s rights, said she had ordered an investigation and called for sanctions against the “intolerable behaviour” of the restaurant’s boss.

The man’s comments follow a fierce debate in recent months about Muslim integration and France’s interpretation of secular values, emerging after a string of attacks around the country.

Several French towns have recently taken the decision to ban a full-body swimsuit worn by some Muslim women, known as the burkini, in public, causing more uproar.

France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended the ban in the Mediterranean town of Villeneuve-Loubet, pending a definitive ruling.

President Francois Hollande also came out last week to warn against “stigmatisation” of Muslims, along with other politicians.

The footage of the incident at the restaurant has been shared widely on social media, garnering many reactions of concern for increasing Islamphobia in the country. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)