McDonald’s has been forced to apologise after a young Muslim women was told to remove her head scarf by a security guard, if she wanted to enter the fast food restaurant.
The 19 year old was stopped by a security guard in a McDonald’s restaurant situated in North London. She was told by the security guard that it is a security threat to cover the head and that she must remove her head scarf immediately. However the young women refused to remove her head scarf, which shocked the security guard.
The incident led the women to film the encounter on her phone, which was later posted on Twitter by her friend. In the video, you can hear her saying to the security guard, ‘Why can’t I come into McDonald’s? Because I am wearing a Hijab?’ However when the security guard responds by saying ‘It’s just a matter of taking it off’ she says ‘It’s not just a matter of taking it off. I wear this for religious reasons and I’m not ashamed of it, and I will stand in line and I will get the food I want.’ ‘I go to all the shops and any restaurant I want, in my Hijab and I buy the food I want to buy and then I come here, and this happens,. This is actually like a hate crime, this is a hate crime.’
The women had been asked to stop filming, although she refused, calling this situation ‘fucking ridiculous’ which prompted an McDonald’s employee to tell her to stop being rude. However she was then informed that she was allowed to order food, but the young women refused, saying that ‘I don’t want anything anymore’ and left the restaurant. The young Muslim women said ‘ I thought, it’s finally happening to me, like it has happened to many hijabis. It didn’t feel real because I had seen so many videos like this and It was finally happening to me in real life. I was in so much disbelief.’ ‘She also said that ‘The friend I was with was shocked and scared, and said it was a risky situation. When it was over, I finally realised how these situations can become dangerous. This is not a one-off thing.’
The young Muslim women has vowed to never enter a McDonald’s restaurant again. McDonald’s have argued that ‘we do not have a policy in place which restricts or prevents anyone wearing a hijab, or any other religious dress from entering one of our restaurants. She stated that ‘we welcome customers of all faiths and we would like to apologise to the customers as this situation should not have taken place. We are taking this matter extremely seriously and we are addressing this with the individual involved.
To watch the video, please see link below….
