FILE PHOTO
Fri 06 March 2020:
Protesters demonstrated outside the famous Matignon restaurant in Paris a day after it turned back a Muslim customer for reportedly wearing a headscarf.
A group of English and French women were turned away from a restaurant in Paris last month because one member was wearing a hijab, the Daily Mail report.
The woman, whose group was denied entry despite having made a reservation, said the restaurant’s owners defended their decision as a response to her apparently inappropriate footwear.
Ils ont refusé un groupe de femmes qui avaient une réservation et la raison est inacceptable pic.twitter.com/OwTgRoFwFE
— CC C’EST AMINA ? (@deessegrr) February 27, 2020
La réponse à l’#islamophobie du restaurant le #Matignon aujourd’hui. #nameandshame #racisme pic.twitter.com/mlarmqKOsQ
— H J S (@HJSparis) February 28, 2020
Her group and another behind her were both turned back, according to the woman, who added that it was most likely because one woman, who can be seen in the video, was wearing an Islamic head covering.
The incident in the Matignon, located near the Champs-Elysees in Paris, took place on February 27, with groups turning up outside the restaurant the next day to protest its decision.
One protester who was in attendance tweeted: “The answer to #islamophobia from the restaurant the #Matignon today. #nameandshame #racism.”
Videos posted online show a group pinning banners to the outside of the restaurant.
In 2011 France imposed a ban on full-face veils in public area, becoming the first European country to do so.
None of the women in the video wire the full-face covering, indicating a rising intolerance for all forms of Islamic dress or symbols in a country where some analysts argue a militant secularism, or laïcité, has taken hold.
While the restaurant claimed the woman’s allegations were ‘slanderous’, another person, a Frenchman of Arab descent, claimed to have been turned away from the restaurant despite wearing a shirt and tie.
He said his entry was denied on the basis of his race.
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