Paris restaurant owner refuses to serve Muslim women

A video has emerged of a Paris restaurant owner chasing two Muslim women with headscarves out of his premises, calling them “terrorists.”

The footage, filmed by a customer at the posh Le Cenacle restaurant in the Paris suburb of Tremblay-en-France and widely shared on social media, shows the man ranting at the women.

“Terrorists are Muslims, and all Muslims are terrorists… This is a secular country and I have a right to an opinion… I don’t want people like you here. Full stop,” the man shouts.

The women in turn say they “do not wish to be served by a racist,” to which the man shouts, “Now get out” as the women leave crying.  

The video has sparked outrage and widespread calls for protests across France. Members of the local Muslim community gathered outside the restaurant at the weekend to protest the incident.

The Committee Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) offered legal and psychological support to the two young women and denounced the incident as “Islamophobic” which “led to the humiliation of two young Muslim women."

According to the French daily Le Parisien, police have launched an investigation into the case.

The incident follows tensions in France over a controversial ban on Muslim women’s full-body swimwear, known as burkini.

The government banned burkini in about 30 French coastal resorts this summer, but France’s highest court ruled the ban is “seriously and clearly illegal,” this week.

Despite the ruling, as many as 28 French mayors still defiantly uphold the ban while right-wing politicians have pledged to pass a legislation at a central government level to maintain the law.

SS