Paris restaurant accused of segregating non-white guests

NICE, France

A restaurant in Paris is accused of segregating non-white guests from white ones, local media reported.

The CoCo restaurant seated a young customer of Asian origin at a table on the upper floor, as shown by a video the customer took earlier this month and posted on TikTok.

When the young man sat down, he noticed that all the restaurant’s non-white customers, including Black customers and ones of North African and Asian origin, were eating there.

He then filmed the ground floor to confirm his observations.

"Look at that: Only white people, white white, all white," he said, comparing the ground floor to the one where he was sitting.

David Guiraud, a member of parliament, addressed a statement to the restaurant’s owners asking for an explanation.

"These clips accuse you of segregating guests based on their skin color: mostly people considered white eat on the ground floor, while people considered Black, Arab, or Asian mostly are seated on the upper floor," Guiraud said.

The MP added that he has alerted the Paris prosecutor, saying that if proven, such discrimination can bring a sentence of five years of prison and a fine of €75,000 ($81,270).

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara