A young Muslim woman has expressed her outrage after she was allegedly given the option remove her headscarf or leave a branch of McDonald’s because it was a “security threat”.
The 19-year-old student said she was stopped in a Seven Sisters McDonald’s on Thursday night by a security guard who told her to remove her hijab several times. When she refused she said the security guard was shocked but continued to ask her to remove it.
She filmed the altercation on her phone and her friend later put it on Twitter. In the video she can be seen telling him, “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, because this isn’t OK.”
A member of the public gets involved and backs the girl, but the security guard dismisses them, telling them, “It’s none of your business.”
The student told The Guardian, “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. I will never walk into a McDonald’s again.”
McDonalds released a statement regarding the video when the Guardian showed it to them, stating that its restaurants were open to everyone, and the company did not have a policy of refusing entry to customers wearing headscarves and that security guards in the fast food chain are employed by third-party partner companies.
Watch the video below.