French sporting goods chain Decathlon has canceled plans to sell a runner's hijab in France following a public outcry and opposition from some politicians who called for a boycott, reports Deutsche Welle.
Decathlon official Xavier Rivoire told the RTL broadcaster on Tuesday that the Muslim headscarf designed for runners would not be sold at its stores in France for the time being.
Decathlon had initially said it would sell the sports hijab to meet "a requirement of certain runners, and we are therefore responding to this sporting requirement."
Several French politicians criticized Decathlon for its plans to sell the product in France, including health minister Agnès Buzyn.
Such a product is "not forbidden by law," she said on RTL, but "it is a vision of women that I do not share. I would have preferred that a French brand not promote the veil."
Aurore Bergé, a spokeswoman for President Emmanuel Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) party, said that "sport emancipates, it does not suppress."