PROPHET ROW
French products like L’Oreal and Garnier boycotted in Muslim countries after Macron defended right to draw Mohammed
FRENCH products are being boycotted in Muslim countries after Emmanuel Macron defended the right to show cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Already luxury beauty products made by L’Oreal and Garnier have been stripped from the shelves after the French president’s comments.
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Macron was speaking in the wake the murder of teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded by 18-year-old Abdullah Anzorov on October 17.
The 47-year-old teacher was posthumously given the Legion d'Honneur - France’s highest award - and Macron insisted the country would "not give up our cartoons".
Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are regarded as taboo in Islam and are offensive to Muslims.
Macron’s comment have led Kuwait’s Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies supermarket group to issue an order to boycott French products.
Several of its stores had cleared the shelves of items such as hair and beauty products made by French companies.
Union head Fahd Al-Kishti said the products had been removed in response to "repeated insults" against the Prophet.
In Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy, a hashtag calling for the boycott of French supermarket retailer Carrefour was trending at the weekend.
France's foreign affairs ministry said there had been calls to boycott French products - notably food products - in several Middle Eastern countries as well as calls for demonstrations over the cartoons.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led the personal attacks on Macron, with whom he has a fraught relationship.
"What is the problem of this person called Macron with Muslims and Islam? Macron needs treatment on a mental level," Erdogan said in a speech on Saturday.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan joined Erdogan on Sunday in criticising Macron for his recent comments on Islam.
"This is a time when President Macron could have put a healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarization and marginalization that inevitably leads to radicalization," Khan wrote on Twitter.
But France and Macron have stood firm has stood firm in the face of the attacks.
In a Tweet on Sunday, Macron said France respected all differences in a spirit of peace but he also said: "We will not give in, ever."
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Using unusually strong language in its response to Mr Erdogan, the French presidency said: "Excess and rudeness are not a method.
“We demand Erdogan changes his policy, which is dangerous in all aspects."
Officials also pointed out that Turkey's leader did not offer condolences following the teacher's beheading.
Macron vows 'Islamists will never take our future' as he stands by coffin of teacher beheaded by maniac jihadi
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