French school makes Muslims, Jews wear red discs

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Parents and leaders said the disks were reminiscent of the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear under the Nazi occupation.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By ET Web Desk | September 28, 2015

A French school has provoked outrage for making Muslim and Jewish pupils wear red discs around their necks at lunchtime.

Staff at Piedalloues primary school in Auxerre, Burgundy, ordered students who did not eat pork to wear red discs, while those who did not eat meat were handed yellow disks.

Of the school’s 1,500 pupils, 18 were made to wear the discs who were then withdrawn from the school by angry parents and community leaders. Parents and leaders said the disks were reminiscent of the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear under the Nazi occupation.

“It’s revolting. It reminds you of the darkest times,” said a local councilor, Malika Ounès. “Practices like this are not acceptable. No one has the right to impose this on children.”

Further, Christian Sautier, director of communications in the mayor’s office, said it was “an isolated, clumsy and unfortunate initiative” that lasted only one day. He said it had been put into effect by canteen staff without informing local authorities, who ended it immediately.

“When we learned about it, we fell out of our chairs,” Sautier said, adding that the mayor had ordered an investigation.

Serving schoolchildren alternative meals without pork is a sensitive issue in France. The practice is strongly opposed by the far-Right Front National, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, ignited controversy last year by trying to force school canteens in towns where the party won local elections to stop offering non-pork options.

Earlier this year, the former centre-Right president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said he too opposed pork-free options in schools, a view that was quickly disavowed by several prominent figures in his party, The Republicans.

Some schools were also ordered to stop offering non-pork choices on days when pork is served by the Republican mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône, also in Burgundy. A Muslim group has started legal proceedings against the ruling, to come into effect next month.

Further, there has also been controversy over whether holiday camps should be forced to provide halal food for Muslim children, as well as higher-profile disputes over veils.

Headscarves and other forms of clothing linked to religious observances are also banned in state schools and a law prohibiting the wearing of full-face Islamic veils in public was introduced in 2011.



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