Pork, school lunches and laïcité in Chalon-sur-Saône

Two years ago, we posted a note on the news that Gilles Platret, the Mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône, near Dijon, had decided in deference to the principle of laïcité to remove pork substitutes from school lunch menus and that his decision had been upheld by the local court. The result was that on some days the menu would offer either pork or … pork.

Needless to say, the local Muslim population was outraged by the change and, as we speculated at the time, that was not to be the end of the story. Continue reading