The social justice group SOS Racisme has been using hidden cameras to test private French Riviera beaches for signs of “discrimination”.
The left-wing anti-racism group said they have been using several different couples of varying skin colours to see how the private beaches react to them making various reservations and use hidden cameras to record the results, L’Obs reports.
During one of the experiments, the group say they had a couple of North African appearance attempt to reserve chairs and they were told by staff that there was no more room.
Shortly after the group sent a caucasian couple and said that they were welcomed and allowed to book a pair of chairs at the front row of the beach.
The group say they are planning to file at least once complaint against one or more of the eight private beaches they tested.
Paula Cornette, Regional Development Manager of SOS Racisme, explained the rationale for the experiments saying: “The purpose of this method is to be able to build a legal file. We work with volunteer lawyers who need a lot of detail to be able to file a complaint against the scene. They also use this information to produce annual reports that identify discrimination by sector.”
The experiments are not the first time activists have tried to point out discrimination along the French riviera.
In 2016, Muslim activists were accused of working with an Australian television channel to attempt to prove Muslim women wearing the sharia-approved “burkini” were being discriminated against.
The activist wearing the burkini, along with the cameraman, were told to leave the beach and insisted that the reason for the hostility was the burkini but it was later revealed the beach-goers simply did not want to be filmed.
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