Jordanian shops launched Oct. 25 an online campaign aimed at boycotting French products in response to offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Large stores have taken French milk, cheese and other products off their shelves.
Ahmed Aqrabawi, the owner of the Al-Aqrabawe hypermarket chain, posted videos and photos showing him emptying his store shelves of dozens of varieties of French products.
Aqrabawi told Al-Monitor, “We will refrain from selling French products out of respect for the dignity of the messenger of God and the Islamic nation. We will keep doing so until France and [President Emmanuel] Macron apologize to the Islamic nation. We shall not backtrack on the boycott campaign. I shall not sell French products in my store.”
On Oct. 21, Macron said his country will not “renounce” cartoons and caricatures even if they offend some. His statements came during a ceremony in memory of Samuel Paty, a teacher who was beheaded in Paris after showing offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students, among whom were some Muslims, during a class on freedom of expression.
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