A French school is under investigation after Muslim and Jewish pupils were told to wear red discs around their necks at lunchtime, sparking parents’ outrage.
“It’s revolting. It reminds you of the darkest times,” a local councillor, Malika Ounès, told The Telegraph.
“Practices like this are not acceptable. No one has the right to impose this on children.”
The dilemma started when Piedalloues primary school in Auxerre, in Burgundy, gave red discs to non-pork eating pupils, basically Muslims.
Eighteen of the school’s 1,500 pupils were made to wear the discs.
The discs were withdrawn after protests by angry parents and community leaders.
It was “an isolated, clumsy and unfortunate initiative” that lasted only one day,” Christian Sautier, director of communications in the mayor’s office, said.
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.
Muslim students school meals has always been a thorny issue in France.
Last August, a court upheld a local move to stop offering non-pork meals to students in school cafeterias, possibly setting a precedent for municipalities elsewhere in the country.
The court ruled in favor of the Republican mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône who announced in March that students would no longer be guaranteed a non-pork option at lunchtime for the coming school year.
In March, the former centre-Right president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said he too opposed pork-free options in schools.
France is home to a Muslim community of nearly six million, the largest in Europe.
French Muslims have been complaining of restrictions on performing their religious practices.
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