Posted on 06/10/2003 10:43:31 AM PDT by knighthawk
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A Danish pizzeria owner who refused service to French and German tourists because their governments didn't back the U.S.-led war in Iraq was convicted of discrimination Tuesday.
Aage Bjerre, who owns a pizzeria on western Denmark's Fanoe island, was investigated by police after he wouldn't serve Germans and French. He called them "anti-American."
In February, Bjerre displayed two homemade pictograms with bars through images of people colored in the hues of the French and German flags. He also reprinted his menus to eliminate German translations.
A Danish court fined Bjerre 5,000 kroner (U.S. $780) or said he could spend a week in jail.
"I will not pay, I'll do the time," Bjerre told The Associated Press. "I feel that I was convicted for supporting the coalition."
However, he said he would appeal the decision, despite offers from supporters to pay the fine.
"Every day I turn tourists down, but my conscience is doing fine," he said, adding he has received more than 200 letters from around the world offering support, including letters from "nearly every single state in the United States."
"That means a lot more to me than losing money," he said, adding he's lost nearly 50,000 kroner (U.S. $7,800) because of a drop in business and repairing vandalism to the shop's front.
The island, 200 miles southwest of Copenhagen is a popular spot for visitors from neighboring Germany. Of the approximately 100,000 tourists who come, some 60 percent are German. The others are mostly Scandinavians and Dutch.
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