Ritual animal slaughter law leaves Belgium's Muslims and Jews facing shortages, price hikes.
Bouihrouchane Mbark visits what was once the halal meat section of his Aswak Souss supermarket in Brussels.Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.BRUSSELS — Workers put the finishing touches on a wall of newly installed shelves at a small grocery store. Three months ago, the same wall was lined with a row of refrigerators filled with halal meat.
The groups say that the new regulation infringes on their civil rights, preventing them from freely practicing their religion. Halal meat is difficult to find at outlets like Aswak Souss in Brussels since a new law requiring pre-stunning of animals came into effect.Mbark estimates that his supermarket's sales have shrunk between 40 and 45 percent due to the ban.
Antwerp-based kosher butcher Chaim Goldberg said the wholesale price of chicken has increased around 50 percent.At the small Moszkowitz kosher butcher in Antwerp, the change in legislation has meant an approximate increase of 50 percent in the wholesale cost of chicken. The shop has absorbed the financial hit, preferring to keep prices the same until after the court verdict comes in.
“We don’t think these types of laws belong in modern society, and a state should not be able to restrict the free religious practice of minority communities,” said Brooke Goldstein, the founder and director of the Lawfare Project, whose fund has supported other civil rights cases involving both Jews and Muslims in the United States and Europe.
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