A French court fined a restaurant owner in southwest France for prohibiting the entry of a Muslim woman for wearing the Islamic headscarf (also known as the hijab).
The court in the city of Bayonne in the Basque region ruled that the 64-year-old female restaurant owner was guilty of discrimination based on religion for asking the customer to remove her headscarf.
The incident took place on Mother’s Day in July, when the Muslim woman went to the restaurant to have dinner with her son.
Footage obtained during the incident shows the mother and son arriving at the restaurant door, and the woman who owns the business said she will not let the two customers into the restaurant because her mother is wearing a "headscarf from the Dark Ages."
The restaurant owner, who is believed to be a Christian because she was wearing a religious symbol – a cross around her neck – claimed that "the headscarf is a tool to subdue women" to her Muslim client, whom she then refused to let in.
The customer, who stated that he was shocked by the words directed at him, went to the police station and filed a complaint on the grounds that they were discriminated against.
With the implementation of laws targeting Muslims in France, Islamophobic and discriminatory attacks against headscarved women, Muslims and Islamic establishments and places of worship have increased, which appear to have emboldened anti-Muslim racist attacks.
Recently, the decision of the municipality of Grenoble to allow veiled swimwear on public beaches and swimming pools in the country was suspended by a court upon the instructions of Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
