Switzerland asylum rules 'akin to apartheid'
19 August 2013 Last updated at 06:14 BST
Plans by local communities in Switzerland to ban asylum seekers from public places such as swimming pools, sports fields and playgrounds are proving controversial.
Amnesty International has said the proposals are akin to apartheid.
Imogen Foulkes reports.
Oprah Winfrey 'sorry' for naming Switzerland in race row
13 August 2013 Last updated at 09:24 BST
US talk show host Oprah Winfrey has said she is sorry for a "blown up" media response after she claimed she encountered racism in an upmarket handbag store in Zurich.
Speaking on the red carpet premiere for her new film, Lee Daniels' The Butler, Winfrey said: "I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland."
"I'm really sorry that it got blown up. I purposely did not mention the name of the store. I'm sorry that I said it was Switzerland," she added.
Her claims were made amid a political row in Switzerland over asylum seekers' rights.
9 August 2013 Last updated at 13:48
Oprah Winfrey 'racism row' a 'misunderstanding'
The star made an estimated $77m last year
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
The owner of a shop in Zurich where US talk show host Oprah Winfrey says she encountered racism has called the incident a "misunderstanding".
Winfrey, one of the world's richest women, claimed an assistant refused to serve her in an upmarket handbag shop.
She was apparently told one of the bags on display was "too expensive" for her.
Shop owner Trudie Gotz told the BBC that Winfrey was "absolutely allowed" to look at the $35,000 (£22,500) bag, which was kept behind a screen.
"My salesperson wanted to give her the handbag in her hand. But she didn't want to take the bag," claimed Gotz.
She said her assistant had worked in the Trois Pommes store "for a few years and takes care of the most spoilt customers from all over the world", adding, "she is really a correct sales person".
'Didn't understand'
Winfrey, who stars in Lee Daniels' new film The Butler, visited Zurich last month to attend singer Tina Turner's wedding. Her programme The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Switzerland.
Speaking to US TV show Entertainment Tonight, she said: "I go into a store and I say to the woman, 'Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?' and she says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'"
When Winfrey insisted, the shop assistant allegedly replied: "No, no you don't want to see that one, you want to see this one because that one will cost too much. You will not be able to afford that."
The star said she left the shop calmly without arguing, but that the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem.
"There's two different ways to handle it," she said.
"I could've had the whole blow-up thing... but it still exists, of course it does."
'Public relations disaster'
Ms Gotz did not call into question Winfrey's perception of the events.
"I didn't take care of [Winfrey]. I'm sure she felt like this - but my salesgirl promised me she took care of [her] really the best she could. So it must have been a misunderstanding," she said.
Ms Gotz said her assistant spoke both Italian and English, "but her English isn't as good".
"She tried to show Mrs Oprah the same style in other qualities, because maybe she didn't understand what she wanted."
Winfrey's claims come amid a political row over plans by some Swiss towns to ban asylum-seekers from some public places.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says human rights groups have likened the plans - which include banning asylum-seekers from swimming pools, playing fields and libraries - to apartheid.
Officials say the curbs, which will also see asylum-seekers housed in special centres, are aimed at preventing tensions with residents.
About 48,000 people are currently seeking asylum in Switzerland. It has twice as many asylum seekers as the European average.
Winfrey's interview is a public relations disaster for Switzerland, our correspondent says.
No comments:
Post a Comment