Kebab festival idea to rile far-right French mayor

The controversial far right mayor Robert Ménard will no doubt find the idea hard to swallow.

After Ménard, the far right mayor of the southern town of Beziers, recently ranted that there were too many kebab outlets in town, opponents have come up with the perfect riposte.

Although it started out as a joke, an event was launched on Facebook to let people know about the world’s first kebab festival in Beziers, which would take place in May next year.

Some 40,000 people immediately said they were “going”, with a similar number saying they were “interested”.

The enthusiasm means that an event that started out as a prank idea to cheese off Ménard, might actually take place. 

Baptiste Fluzin, the man who first launched the event on Facebook and Twitter said he did it with the intention of “simply mocking Ménard and his ridiculous statements about kebabs.”

“Right now people should be sticking together instead of stigmatizing people,” Fluzin told French channel BFM TV.

Fluzin admits he is now tempted by the idea of actually organizing the event.

“Whether Mr Ménard likes it or not, people are free to eat whatever they want,” he said.

“But why not go ahead with it…as long as it is self-organized and in good spirits.”

“We really have to piss him off. It’s all he deserves.”

The mayor himself will no doubt get a say in the whether the kebab festival will take place right under his nose and given his angry rant on the issue, doner lovers shouldn’t get their hopes up.

Sparking the whole kebab-gate controversy recently Ménard said: “When there are too many immigrants in a country, there are simply too many immigrants.

“At some point, in the restaurant industry, I think there are too many kebab outlets. It’s too much.

“I don’t want Beziers to become the kebab capital. These stores have nothing to do with our culture,” he added.