COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A Danish pizzeria owner who refused to serve French and German tourists because of their governments' opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq is selling his restaurant.
According to The Associated Press, Aage Bjerre, who was fined $780 this spring for discriminating against both nations' countrymen, said he will continue selling pizzas, but over the Internet (see related stories Pizzeria owner charged with discrimination for banning Germans, French and Dane shows U.S. loyalty by refusing pizza service to Germans, French).
"I've sold my pizzeria because I think I'll lose again," Bjerre told AP, referring to an ongoing appeal of his discrimination conviction.
In February, Bjerre placed homemade signs with bars through images of people colored in the hues of the French and German flags on the pizzeria's front.
Now he's working out details for the frozen pizza menu and said the soon-to-be Web site would be in Danish, English, German and French.
"When people click on the German and the French icons, they will get the pictogram," Bjerre said. "No frozen pizzas to these people."
Bjerre said his boycott has cost him at least $7,800 since business dropped and because of vandalism to his restaurant's front.
However, he also has received some 300 letters from around the world offering support, including an invitation to come to Chicago in September. He accepted the offer, but wouldn't say who invited him.
Bjerre said he would stop the boycott "if the governments of France and Germany change their attitude toward the United States and support Washington wholeheartedly."
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