Halal store told to sell alcohol and pork or face closure

A halal supermarket in France has been warned it must sell wine and pork to the local community if it wants to continue trading.

Good Price, in the Paris suburb of Colombes, has been accused of "not catering to the community" by refusing to sell items banned by the Koran and told it faces closure if it does not offer additional products.

Mayor Nicole Goueta is reported to have visited the store personally to ask the owners to "diversify the range of products" and add alcohol and non-halal meats.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Goueta's chief of staff, Jerome Besnard, told the Daily Telegraph the community was not being properly served and that the town's reaction would have been the same had a kosher store opened in the area.

"We don't want any area that is only Muslim or any area where there are no Muslims," he said.

Store owner Soulemane Yalcin said the shop sold products that represented the community he serves.

"I make the trade, I look around me and I target what I can sell," he told Le Parisien newspaper.