Paris bans sausage/wine party over Muslim concerns

By Laure Bretton

PARIS (Reuters) - A giant "sausage and wine" party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday.

The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month, had drawn growing criticism from politicians and civic groups in recent days as its page containing barely disguised anti-Muslim slogans attracted over 7,000 members.

The event, called an "apero geant" (giant cocktail party), was due on Friday, a date seen as highly provocative because that will be the day of the weekly Muslim prayer and the World Cup soccer match between England and majority Muslim Algeria.

It is also the 70th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's famous 1940 "Appeal of June 18" from London calling on the French to resist the German occupation of their country.

"This open-air event creates serious risks of disturbances to public order," the police said in a statement, noting the symbolism of the time and place chosen for the flash mob-style party. It also said counter-demonstrations were planned.

The main organiser, Sylvie Francois, wrote that she wanted the event to be "a joyous protest" against the closing down of roads in the Goutte d'Or neighbourhood every Friday by Muslims praying in the street outside the overcrowded mosque there.

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The Facebook page also appeared to signal the party's thrust with appeals to "native Parisians" and complaints about "the resolute foes of our local wines and pork products."