The young Egyptian woman, Ohood Mohamed, sparked controversy among social media users, as she wanted to celebrate her birthday in a restaurant in New Cairo, but was expelled because one of her friends was wearing a hijab.
According to Ohood, she and her colleagues were expelled from the restaurant, because one of her friends was wearing a hijab, as some restaurants and nightclubs require a certain dress to enter their customers, known as "dress code", as some require that their patrons wear formal clothes.
The response of the head of the Central Administration of Hotel Establishments regarding the incident was that the Ministry of Tourism opened an investigation into the girl's allegation, and if true, the restaurant may be punished by closure.
Wide reactions
The program "Shabakat" (2023/5/9) followed the comments of tweeters on what happened to the girls in the restaurant, where activist Reem Selim considered that what happened to the girls is racism and wrote: "Any place that prevents people from entering on the basis of their dress is a racist and hateful place that deserves to be boycotted. What is useful is superior to customers in the first place."
For his part, tweeter Sherif Shalabi said that the owners of the place are free to identify their customers and said: "Every place is free and has a policy of entry, especially since it is a bar and a nightclub."
As for the activist, Dina El-Sawy explained, "Fine dining places in the whole world have rules, including the dress code, and this determines the type of dress only, whether formal, smart casual, business casual... This has nothing to do with the hijab, as long as the person is committed to the dress code.."
In turn, the tweeter was surprised by Talaat from the interference of restaurants in the costume of customers and said: "Frankly, I do not understand why a restaurant or a café remains for him dress code from the ground up, seriously, meaning what the idea!!!."
The Shaabat team contacted the restaurant and asked him if veiled women were allowed to enter, and the response was that they were allowed to be present, but when an explanation was asked for what happened with the girl, no response was received.
For its part, the executive regulations for the work of tourist facilities said that "citizens and foreigners are allowed to enter or reside in the facility, and the obligation to follow the instructions issued by it and approved by the competent ministry, without discrimination between them because of religion, belief, sex, origin, race, color, language, disability, social level, political or geographical affiliation, or for any other reason, and in a manner that does not conflict with the customs and traditions of Egyptian society.