Zara has faced a backlash after denying a woman in a headscarf entry into a store

Zara has faced a backlash after denying a woman in a headscarf entry into a store

GLOBAL fashion chain Zara has faced a major backlash after footage surfaced of a woman being denied entrance to a Paris store.

The footage, which was posted to YouTube the day after the Paris terrorist attacks in France, shows a security guard blocking a Muslim woman’s entrance.

The woman asks if she can enter the store wearing a headscarf and he refuses, saying: “If things change, they’ll change, but I don’t make the rules.”

Outraged social media users have posted public complaints on Zara’s Facebook page, expressing their disappointment over the incident.

Heba Ahmed wrote: “I dislike your attitude aganist [sic] Muslim women. I won’t buy any thing till official apology and official statement that this won’t happen again”.

Tarek Makhlouf said: “At the end of the day regardless of religion, background or creed, we are all humans! And not everyone is a terrorist! And certainly not Muslims. So gutted to understand you would do this.”

Another user suggested: “I guess you should offer a promotion on scarfs across the world for damage control.”

The hashtag #BoycottZara has also made the rounds on Twitter.

Zara took to Facebook to issue an apology. It also said that the security staff member and the store manager of the store have been fired.

“We can confirm that regrettably such an incident took place with one customer in one store in Paris over the weekend. Above all, we would like to sincerely apologise for what has happened. Our country head in France has personally contacted this customer to apologise for the incident and to express our utter disagreement with such actions, which are completely opposite to the principles of our company. Both the security staff and the store manager involved with this specific incident have been sanctioned.

“Zara is a diverse and multicultural company that has employees and customers of many different nationalities, orientations, cultures, languages and beliefs. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”

This isn’t the first time Zara has come under fire from the public. Last year, the chain was forced to issue an apology for selling a line of kids’ pyjamas likened to Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust.