McDonald's staff tell Muslim customer to take off headscarf

A Muslim customer has been told she must take off her headscarf before entering a McDonald's restaurant.

The 19-year-old student filmed her altercation with a security guard at a north London branch on November 30 who told her "it's just a matter of taking it off".

The footage shows the security guard unwilling to back down before a member of the public intervenes, arguing he has no right to stop the woman.

The woman, who is a British Muslim of Middle Eastern descent, can be heard remonstrating with staff before leaving the eatery.

"This is a hate crime. I just want to know who's implementing this policy because this is f***ing ridiculous," the woman can be heard saying.

"I'm so shocked right now. I've been living in the UK for 19 years and this is the first time I'm faced with this kind of discrimination," she added.

Following the incident she revealed her shock regarding the staff's behaviour.

“I thought ‘it’s finally happening to me,’ like it has to so many hijabis," she told the Guardian.

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"It didn’t feel real because I had seen so many videos like this and it was finally happening to me in real life. I was in so much disbelief."

A spokeswoman for McDonald’s apologised for the incident and said the chain does not have such a policy in place.

"We welcome customers of all faiths and would like to apologise to the customer as this situation should not have taken place. We are taking this matter extremely seriously," she said.