Kuwait retail co- ops remove French goods

Paris: These calls for boycott are baseless and should stop immediately

Kuwait’s retail co- ops have pulled French products in boycott over the use of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad ( PBUH) in a French school class on freedom of expression whose teacher was then beheaded by an Islamist.

In Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, a hashtag calling for the boycott of French supermarket retailer Carrefour was the second most trending yesterday.

France’s foreign affairs ministry said that in recent days there had been calls to boycott French products, notably food products, in several Middle Eastern countries as well as calls for demonstrations against France over the cartoons.

“These calls for boycott are baseless and should stop immediately, as well as all attacks against our country, which are being pushed by a radical minority,” the ministry said in a statement.

Boycott directive

The ministry also called on authorities to speak out against such boycott actions in order to help French companies and ensure the safety of French citizens.

In Kuwait, the non- governmental Union of Consumer Co- operative Societies, which groups more than 70 establishments, issued the boycott directive in an October 23 circular. Several co- ops visited by Reuters yesterday had cleared the shelves of items such as hair and beauty products made by French companies.

Repeated insults

Union head Fahd Al Kishti told Reuters that all French products had been removed fromall the co- ops in response to “repeated insults” against the Prophet and had been taken independently of Kuwait’s government. The co- ops, some the size of hypermarkets, carry government- subsidised staples and account for a big part of retail in Kuwait, as well as organising some educational courses and recreational activities.—