(AFP) Sports equipment retailer Decathlon said Tuesday it would no longer sell canoes in the north of France to prevent migrants from attempting to use them to cross to England.
“The purchase of canoes will no longer be possible” in Decathlon stores in Calais and Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk, “given the current context,” the retailer told AFP, confirming local media reports.
The items were not being used for their original sporting purpose, but “could be used to cross the Channel,” it said.
In such cases, “people’s lives would be endangered,” the retailer argued.
The stores themselves had decided to stop selling the canoes and management had approved the decision, Decathlon said.
