France shuts down 'halal' supermarket and Muslims are angry

The business owner Soulemane Yalcin was forced to shut down his supermarket and pay the council €4000 ($4725) in legal fees.
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The New Arab Staff

The New Arab

07 Dec, 2017
The owner was forced to shut down his supermarket for refusing to sell pork [Getty]

A Muslim owned supermarket in France has been shut down for “violating its terms of lease” by refusing to sell alcohol and pork under grounds.

The Good Price mini-market in Colombes, located in Paris is required to be a “general food store” according to its licence and must meet the needs of all of its inhabitants, meaning it must sell pork and alcohol, but that defeats the purpose of its halal credentials.

The owner Soulemane Yalcin opened his store in 2015 and turned it into a supermarket that sells halal produce.

In what is being described as an Islamophobic campaign online, after Yalcin opened his store, locals began to complain that they could no longer buy alcohol and pork at the said supermarket and urged local authorities to get it replaced. 

Last year, the mayor of Colombes, Nicole Goueta, went to the store in order to pressure Mr Yalcin to start selling alcohol and pork.

The mayor's chief of staff, Jerome Besnard, said that he asked the owner to 'diversify' his range of products on sale to stop local residents from complaining.

French courts had succeeded in shutting the business down this week and Yalcin is being forced to pay €4000 ($4725) to the local authorities to cover their legal fees.

The decision sparked anger on social media:

Many questioned how liberal France really is:

'Secular extremists'

Some believed that this is targeting Muslims specifically:

 
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