Supporting video, three young women accused, Wednesday July 20, the Manko, a Parisian restaurant, of racism, after having been prohibited from entering the establishment, despite a reservation.
It all starts on Saturday July 16. In the images, published on the social network TikTok, the young women, who speak French and English, appear very dressed, made up and wearing heeled shoes. They present themselves in front of the establishment located on the famous avenue Montaigne, in the 8e arrondissement of Paris, but are denied access by the security guard, on the pretext that they are not wearing uniforms “evening”.
“This is my first experience of racism”
Conversely, we can see on the same images that white people enter the establishment without difficulty and are not subject to strict control of their clothing. When a couple of equally well-dressed black people arrive, the security guard refuses them entry as well. “The only reason he could find was that the guy was wearing Gucci joggers”, writes the young woman who shared the video on TikTok. The latter did not respond to requests from the World.
“It exists for real…”, sighs one of the young women we hear on the video. And to add that ” it is [s]first experience of racism”.
After the broadcast of the images, which circulated widely on social networks, the Manko published a press release, presenting ” his excuses “. “Following the incident that occurred on Saturday evening in Paris, the Manko apologizes. Manko respects a charter of values that advocate equality, respect, tolerance and benevolence for all. The necessary sanctions were immediately and permanently taken.said the management on the social networks of the establishment.
Contacted by The world Thursday, the Manko spokesperson explains that the establishment, which became aware of the incident on Tuesday evening on social networks, “immediately presented [ses] apologies to these three young women”. “We are like everyone else shocked by what happened, it’s something that should not happen. It’s against our values.”says the Manko, qualifying the facts “isolated act”. The establishment has also requested the dismissal of the security officer from the company responsible for security.
A man, presenting himself on Instagram as the accused security guard – when writing our article, the account was no longer accessible to everyone – claimed to have “respected the wishes of the staff of the establishment”asserting “pay the pots”.
The Manko denies these accusations. “What we ask of a security guard is to refuse entry to our establishment to people who are intoxicated, who have consumed narcotics or who are violent. We have never asked a security guard to prevent someone from entering because they are racialized. »
Contacted by The worldthe company Alba, which provides security for the restaurant, claims that the agent in question has “made an error in judgment” and that he will no longer be assigned to the security of the Manko, but that he has “in no way lost his job”.
The Defender of Rights alerted
In reaction to this affair, David Guiraud, deputy of La France insoumise of the 8e northern constituency, announced on Twitter having written ” a question to the government on acts of racist filtering in places open to the public “. He also alerted the Defender of Rights, he said on the same social network.
🤔 Le Manko Paris will have to explain Following recent videos that denounce filtering excluding blacks from the r… https://t.co/uvo2Rkghaa
“Parts of the response were sent to Mr. Guiraud”we are assured on the side of Manko.
The establishment is not the only one to have been the subject of such accusations. In 2018, L’Avenue, a brasserie of the Costes group installed in the 8e district of Paris and very popular with stars, had been accused in a survey of BuzzFeed News having “set up a real discriminatory system”excluding “Arabs and veiled women”in particular by refusing reservations with “names of Arabic origin” or of “tourists from the Middle East (target countries are Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia)”.
