Zara Fires Workers For Turning Away A Muslim Shopper

Zara is getting heat for turning away a woman wearing a hijab from one the brand’s stores in France.
Customers are calling for a boycott of the brand after a video went viral depicting a guard at a Zara store in the Parisian suburb of Plaisir who asked a Muslim customer to remove her hijab. He then blocked her from walking inside when she refused. Though it’s unclear as to when the incident happened, the video was uploaded on Nov. 14, the day after the infamous terrorist attacks waged onto Paris by ISIS.
In a report from the Agence France-Presse, Zara’s head of its French locations, Jean-Jacques Salaun, said that it had fired two of the employees involved in the incident.

“This type of mentality is unheard of at Zara and there have never been instructions given out to act this way.”

In France, it’s illegal to wear veils that full cover the face like the burqa or the niqab, but the hijab is allowed since it only conceals part of a woman’s hair. Salaun stated he has since apologized to the customer. In a statement from Zara, the company says:
“Respect for diversity is the fundamental pillar on which Inditex (Zara’s parent company) was founded, with more than 140,000 employees worldwide representing a rich multitude of cultures and religions.”
[SOURCE: Quartz, Agence France-Presse]