UK police have arrested a 43-year-old woman for posting an Islamophobic comment on her beauty salon’s Facebook page.
The Facebook page said that Muslims are not welcome at her shop following the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Thames Valley Police detained the woman after the comment appeared on Blinks of Bicester’ (a beauty salon in Oxfordshire) Facebook page following the Paris terrorist attacks on Friday that killed over 120 people.
It said Blinks of Bicester salon would not be taking any more bookings from people of the “Islamic faith” and received hundreds of comments criticising the post before the page was removed from Facebook.
The original post read: “Blinks of Bicester are no longer taking bookings from anyone from the Islamic faith whether you are UK granted with passport or not” and “Sorry but time to put my country first”.
A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “We have arrested a 43-year-old woman in Bicester today after a number of complaints about a racially abusive post on social media.
“The woman was arrested under section 19 of the Public Order Act which relates to the display of written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting with the intention of stirring up racial hatred, and for producing malicious communications. “We take all such complaints seriously and will investigate. If you suspect that racially aggravated crimes are being committed please report them to the police,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“The woman was arrested under section 19 of the Public Order Act which relates to the display of written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting with the intention of stirring up racial hatred, and for producing malicious communications. “We take all such complaints seriously and will investigate. If you suspect that racially aggravated crimes are being committed please report them to the police,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}According to the UK Equality Act 2010, businesses are forbidden from refusing service on the basis of a particular religion or belief.