Сеть британских магазинов мужской одежды Burton была вынуждена срочно снять с продажи футболки с ксенофобским лозунгом на русском языке, пишет в субботу британская газета The Guardian.
По данным издания, футболки компании Girlaun Print Crew, стоимостью в 12 фунтов стерлингов, поступили в широкую продажу в магазины Burton несколько недель назад. На футболке изображен российский геральдический двуглавый орел, в центре которого размещен восьмиконечный старообрядческий крест, а вокруг идет надпись на русском языке: "Очистим Русь от всех нерусских".
Покупатели, оказавшиеся в состоянии прочитать и перевести надпись, сообщили о ее провокационном содержании руководству торговой сети, которое приняло решение немедленно изъять товар из своих магазинов. При этом в пресс-службе Burton заявили, что не подозревали об истинном смысле кириллической надписи.
"Компания-производитель футболок, с которой мы сотрудничаем уже давно, сообщила, что вольный перевод этой фразы звучит, как "Гордись Россией". Разумеется, если бы мы знали ее точное значение, товар бы никогда не появился в наших магазинах", - заявили в пресс-службе торговой сети.
Однако, пишет The Guardian, несмотря на заявление руководства Burton футболки с ксенофобским лозунгом в пятницу вечером еще можно было свободно заказать через интернет-магазин компании. В субботу утром провокационный товар с сайта уже был снят.
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The slogan on the Burton T-shirt translates as 'We will cleanse Russia of all non-Russians'
When Bristol university student Paddy Shuttleworth spotted an unassuming grey cotton T-shirt in his local Burton menswear shop, he was, to say the least, surprised; not by the price (a modest £12) but by the Cyrillic writing surrounding the doubleheaded eagle motif which, as a Russian language student, he was able to translate. Rather unfortunately, it read: "We will cleanse Russia of non-Russians!"
"I did mention to the girl as I bought one of the shirts, that it was politically probably quite dangerous," says Mr Shuttleworth. The shirt's overall design is an odd jumble of ersatz French logo and Russian iconography, but there is no mistaking the nature of the sentiment, which uses the old word for Russia, "Rus" as a way of distinguishing between ethnic Russians and those with Russian citizenship. "I've spoken to a Russian friend," says Mr Shuttleworth, "and she said you would be arrested if you wore it in Russia."
The phrase is typical of those painted on foreigners' homes by Russian neo-nazis. It also has echoes of the nationalist Rodina (Motherland) party's notorious 2005 political broadcast, which depicted dark-skinned immigrants throwing watermelon rinds on the ground along with the incendiary slogan "Let's Clean Moscow of the Rubbish". As a result of the advert Rodina was banned from participating.
Initially Burton seemed surprised by the unsavoury sentiment lurking on its so-called Girlaun Print Crew shirt.
But yesterday it emerged that the high street chain, part of Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group, had been alerted to the gaffe by a member of staff this week. A spokeswoman told the Guardian the company had bought 6,000 of the T-shirts from one of their regular suppliers last week. At the time Burton was told the slogan translated loosely as "Be proud of Russia."
Believing it was no more than harmless patriotism, bosses decided to distribute the T-shirts to stores across the UK.
However, when they went on display in one of Burton's London shops a female member of staff spotted the T-shirt and alerted company bosses.
"She is a Russian speaker and she called the brand director saying the Tshirt was inappropriate," said Burton.
The staff member said the symbol on the T-shirt was used by right-wing groups in Russia and that the slogan meant "Keep Russia for Russian Speakers."
"As soon as we realised its significance and that it was not something we would want on our T-shirts it was withdrawn from stores - that was Tuesday. On Friday we realised it was still on sale online and it was withdrawn completely," said the spokeswoman.
However, the Guardian, attempting to buy one of the T-shirts yesterday, received the following email: "Thanks for your order placed with Burton.co.uk. We are pleased to let you know that the following item(s) are now on their way to you: Quantity: 1; Item number: 45P20QGRY; Description: Girlaun Print Crew, size LGE, Dark Grey."
Last night Jon Benjamin, chief executive at the Board of Deputies of British Jews said Burton had done the right thing. "It is a clear reference to ethnic cleansing and it is not the sort of thing that any of us want to see people wearing," he said.
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