German Supermarket Empties Shelves of Foreign Products to ‘Fight Racism’

BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 10: An Edeka supermarket stands on May 10, 2016 in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

The Edeka supermarket in Hamburg has removed all foreign products from its shelves in a stunt which it claims highlights racism and diversity.

Local shoppers were shocked Thursday to find that a large portion of the shop’s shelves were completely bare. The shop replaced the missing goods with signs in German saying: “This shelf is pretty boring without diversity,” and “Our range now knows borders,” The Telegraph reports.

Some customers took to social media platforms to express their bewilderment with one shopper writing on Twitter: “‘Diversity day.’ Edeka sold only German products. The shelves look like Cuba.”

“Edeka stands for variety and diversity. In our stores we sell numerous foods which are produced in the various regions of Germany,” a spokesman for Edeka said.

“But only together with products from other countries it is possible to create the unique variety, that our consumers value. We are pleased that our campaign caused so many positive reactions,” she added.

Some thought the stunt proved the point it set out to make, with Christian Democrat (CDU) politician Julia Klöckner calling it “wise”; others, including anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany party (AfD) politician Marcus Pretzell, slammed it as “madness”.

On Twitter, Pretzell wrote: “Why exactly should it be wise? Is it not rather completely mad?”

Pretzell, who serves as a leading member of the European Parliament for the AfD, and is also the partner of former AfD leader Frauke Petry, has repeatedly slammed German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her mass-migration policies.

Shortly after the Berlin Christmas market attack, which was committed by Tunisian failed asylum seeker Anis Amri, Pretzell launched an attack against Merkel saying,: “When will the German state of law strike back? When will this cursed hypocrisy finally stop? These are Merkel’s dead!”

The AfD is currently polling in third place nationally ahead of next month’s German national election. Whilst at first neither Merkel nor the leader of the Social Democrats and former EU Parliament President Martin Schulz addressed immigration at all, recent events have seen it become a major issue once again.

Last month, a different Edeka location in Hamburg was the scene of a stabbing attack by a failed Palestinian asylum seeker who killed one and injured several others. Police claimed that whilst the attacker was an Islamist, the attack motive was likely related to mental health.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com 

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