The French sports store Decathlon has cancelled a plan to put a sports hijab on the market in France after several politicians, including one from Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, called for a boycott. Agnès Buzyn, the health minister in Macron’s government, said of the garment: “It’s a vision of women that I don’t share. Decathlon (@Decathlon) Notre service client a reçu plus de 500 appels et mails depuis ce matin. Scores of mayors in French coastal towns issued beach bans on “burkinis” or full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women in 2016. Fiona Lazaar, an MP from Macron’s centrist party, tweeted that it was a shame that Decathlon had pulled the product, giving in to calls for a boycott and “racist threats and unbridled islamophobia”.

Source: The Guardian February 26, 2019 19:36 UTC