A group of Israeli holidaymakers, aged 8 to 16, were prohibited access to an activity park, on the Tyrovol aerial course, in the south of the Pyrénées-Orientales this Thursday, August 21, 2025. The manager is in police custody for “discrimination based on religion” and denies the facts. Indignation reactions are increasing.
The leisure park was closed on Friday August 22, 2025 with gendarmes positioned at the entrance to the site. It was at the Porte-Puymorens Tyrovol Park that the group of 150 young Israeli minor vacationers aged 8 to 16 was to have a few hours, having fun and enjoying the dozen ziplines that this park is located in the heart of Cerdagne.
They had reserved for a long time but when they showed up the manager finally refused them access. “The park manager told his interlocutors refuse access to these young people due to” personal convictions “before advancing other justifications to other people”, said Nicolas Brignol, deputy public prosecutor in Perpignan, in a statement.
The 52 -year -old park manager was this Friday in police custody for “Discrimination based on religion as part of the offer or the provision of a property or service “in the premises of the Prades gendarmerie. Unknown to justice, and faced with investigators he denies any desire for discrimination. He said he planned to close the site for security reasons following the passage of a violent thunderstorm.
The Observatory of the Jews of France announced that it had filed a complaint with the constitution of civil party.
” It is a file that is extremely symbolic and extremely serious. There is a new dike that falls, to make room for a climb still of a notch of anti -Semitism. These are children, who are between 8 and 16 years old, who are innocent and who are turned back on the sole reason that they are Israeli, “Declares Me Corine Serfati, interviewed by our French team 3 Catalan countries.
The attitude of the Manager of the Inadmissible Attitude Park for this Senator Les Républicains.“Not only, I hope that this person is condemned, but that he is heavily condemned. It is necessary in the matter of exemplary penalties otherwise we will accredit the thesis and the feeling that we can in France make such remarks”, said Lauriane Josende, Senator LR.
“It is not our conception of the Republic. This is not our conception of human dignity “, Ensures, for his part, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau. “The next step is to put signs in front of businesses” prohibited from Jews “?”wonders the minister in reference to anti -Semitic laws in France during the Second World War.
LFI, for its part, said its position in a press release. “If the religious motivation put forward in the media was proven, it would be a condemnable discrimination, because of an anti -Semitic nature (…) Insoumise France 66 considers that it is regrettable to involve children in a conflict (…) This must be the case for all children, including Palestinian children who die under the bombing.”
The park manager risks up to 3 years in prison.
Written with Olivier Meyer and AFP.