Muslim cafe owner in London receives 'death threat' over Je Suis Charlie sign outside his coffee shop

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A French-born Muslim says he has received a death threat for displaying a “Je suis Charlie” sign outside of his coffee shop on Brick Lane, in east London.

Adel Defilaux said a man entered the The Antishop on Tuesday and demanded he remove the sign, which was widely used across the world to express solidarity with the victims of the Charlie Hebdo Paris massacre.

The Evening Standard reports the unidentified man warned him “something bad was going to happen” if he didn’t remove the sign, which he claimed offended his community.

Mr Defilaux, 32, said: “I told him I was Muslim myself and I wanted to talk gently with him and I said people can’t kill journalists for expressing themselves.

“I calmly explained to him that what he was saying was not the reality of Islam. I thought I could calm him down, but it had the opposite effect. He went crazy. He said ‘I believe these people deserve to be killed and anyone supporting them deserves also to be killed’.

"I was all alone and started getting scared. He said if I didn’t take down the sign he would smash up the shop, and then he just left.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said enquiries were ongoing into the incident on Tuesday.

The spokesperson said: “The man also made threats to cause criminal damage to his shop.

“Officers from Tower Hamlets attended and are in contact with the shopkeeper in order to try and identify the person responsible and to see what action can be taken.”