France probing restaurateur for anti-Muslim tirade

A French prosecutor has opened an investigation into suspected racial discrimination after two Muslim women said they were ordered out of a restaurant amid tension over France’s burkinis controversy.

The prosecutor in the Paris suburb of Bobigny says Monday that his case concerns a smartphone video produced by one of the women in Le Cenacle, a restaurant in nearby Tremblay-en-France. French media have widely broadcast the video.

In Saturday’s recording, the owner can be heard blaming all Muslims for recent attacks and saying: “I don’t want people like you in my place. … Get out.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cY5hpnvD2E

France’s minister for women’s affairs, Laurence Rossignol, denounced the restaurant owner’s behavior and called for him to face criminal sanctions.

The owner issued an apology Sunday night to all Muslims on BFM television.

— AP