Police detained the manager of a leisure park in southern France on suspicion of religious discrimination after a group of Israeli children aged eight to 16 were refused access to the Parcours aerien Tyrovol zipline in Porte-Puymorens. The children had been on holiday in Spain and held a Thursday reservation. The prosecutor's office said the manager initially cited personal beliefs to refuse the group before offering other justifications. The park posted a closure for a storm inspection and told the group they could not visit; the children later used another facility without incident. Community leaders and Jewish organizations condemned the refusal as discriminatory and violating French values.
The manager of a leisure park in southern France has been detained for alleged religious discrimination after a group of Israeli children were refused access. The children, aged eight to 16, were on holiday in Spain and had made a reservation for Thursday to use the Parcours aerien Tyrovol zipline facility in Porte-Puymorens, near the Spanish border in the Pyrenees mountains, the Perpignan prosecutor's office said.
A line was crossed. We are appalled, said Perla Danan, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It started with graffiti, insults and physical attacks and now it's literally a ban on children aged eight to 16, Danan said, adding that it reminded her of the no Jews or dogs allowed sign during the Holocaust. France's values have been violated, she said.
The French prosecutor's office said the manager initially told some people he was refusing the group access on the grounds of personal beliefs before offering other justifications to others. A message posted on Wednesday evening on the park's social media said the site would be closed on Thursday due to a storm, in order to carry out a complete inspection of the facilities.
Collection
[
|
...
]