A restaurant manager in Bielefeld, Northern Germany expelled a woman in a full burqa from his Seekrug restaurant which inflicted a media storm. Since then Christian Schulz, the restaurant manager was flooded with comments on his Facebook page that either declared the support for his action or labelled him a “racist”.
The niqab wearer turned up on a Saturday to the Seekrug restaurant where people were gathered to celebrate the Festival of Light. The surrounding people started to feel discomfort claimed Mr.Schulz when the woman arrived. When she was seated Mr. Schulz confronted the woman and asked her to remove her face cover. However, the women reacted with abusive comments and refused to remove her face cover. This lead to a controversial row online and caused Mr. Schulz business to be put on hold.
To counteract the racist claims on his Facebook page Mr. Schulz stated his staff policy is pro-integration and on his Facebook page it displays photos of him with a Seekrug chef who is apparently African. The German media has also reported that he employs staff from Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan, and Portugal.
Mr.Schulz told the German newspaper Rheinische post ; “In times like these such a request isn’t unreasonable at such a big event.” This incident has ignited a heated debate but the majority have supported Mr. Schulz actions.
Some of these comments include on his Facebook page:
Gok Han: “I’m Turkish and my religion is Islam. But… to walk into a beer garden as a Muslim and fully veiled (Burka) – I’d also find that pretty weird! You shouldn’t enter a social place where alcohol is being consumed! That’s just not on”
Norbert Bochnick: “Good luck – don’t let this put you out of business! And absolutely no-one can describe you as a racist. You’ve already shown your commitment to integration through your staff policy!”
Thomas Mueller: “In a time of Islamist terror, it is really necessary to show spreading Islam the limits set by our secular society. Citizens admire you for your courage”
Another commenter, Ingo Stromberg, wrote: “It’s very simple. Germany has its rules here as do other countries.
“As a German when I visit a mosque I take off my shoes and I respect it. The host thus did the right thing.”
The case of Mr. Schulz is one of the many incidents occurring Europe where people have become puzzled upon the dealings of such matters and caused debates to occur that have a never ending solution. These incidents have increased in recent days where attacks of ISIS have increased in the past months.