Moulin Rouge fined for racism

Alex Duval Smith
Saturday 23 November 2002 01:00
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The Moulin Rouge was found guilty yesterday of racial discrimination and ordered to pay damages to a 22-year-old Senegalese national who applied for a waiter's job at the famous Paris nightclub but was turned down because he did not have white skin.

Dominique Tricaud, the lawyer representing the anti-discrimination pressure group SOS Racisme, said the €6,800 (£4,500) awarded to the victim, Abdoulaye Marega, represented a significant victory against racism.

"We're more used to figures like €150 in cases like these,'' said M. Tricaud.

The Moulin Rouge's secretary, Micheline Beuzit, was also fined €3,000 euros (£2,000) for complicity in discrimination.

To signal the importance of the ruling, the Paris tribunal separately ordered that if Ms Beuzit did not pay her €3,000 fine within 100 days, she would be jailed for 50 days.

A court hearing last month heard that, during M. Marega's job interview, Moulin Rouge staff told him explicitly that non-white skin did not fit the club's image.

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