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The sign, posted on the Tesco store’s beverage stand, is a warning to thieves and probably wouldn’t have caused outrage had it not been written in Romanian:
“Warning for shoplifters. Captured shoplifters will be prosecuted. In this area there are plainclothes police officers.”
Given the language in which it was written, it is obvious that the ad was placed especially for Romanians from local communities, who go shopping at this store. Hence the protest reaction of Iolanda Costide, former president of the Romanian Cultural Association in England until 1995. She published an open letter on Facebook, addressed to the management of the chain of stores in which the offensive warning appeared, in which she shows their outrage. of what happened.
“It is not worth it for a chain that presents itself as progressive, serving people like Tesco, to allow ethnic profiling in its stores. The image shows a warning, in Romanian, against the thief. Do we have to believe that all Romanians are thieves, or perhaps only those who do not speak the language of the bard and need this scandalous message to be explained in Romanian? Please remove these posters from your stores, otherwise we will draw the attention of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to their practices ”, wrote Iolanda Costide, on her Facebook page.
The MFA has spoken out against discrimination
The discriminatory message that appeared in the London supermarket also caught the attention of the Bucharest authorities, who disapprove of what happened. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) states that the Romanian Embassy in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been notified and has taken, as a matter of urgency, steps to express the surprise and disagreement of the Romanian side with the appearance of a message within a branch of a well-known food chain, which has a strong discriminatory character. The measures were taken by both company management and central and local authorities, including the British Foreign Office.
“The MFA disapproves of this type of discriminatory message that does not reflect the true image of the Romanian community in Britain, well integrated and making a real contribution to the development of the British economy and society,” the press release read.
At the same time, the MFA shows that, in the letter addressed to the management of the company and to the local police, the representatives of the embassy requested the immediate withdrawal of the discriminatory materials, as well as the clarification of the circumstances and reasons for their use .
“The Romanian Embassy in London is paying close attention to this issue and will take all legal measures to ensure that Romanian citizens in the UK guarantee their rights as EU citizens and apply non-discriminatory treatment,” the MFA said.
