Calls for a boycott of a restaurant in Harrow have been issued after the owner refused to remove a portrait of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Council officers went down to This Is It, a Lebanese restaurant in Station Road, Harrow, on Monday requesting the picture of Saddam be taken down after they received complaints that people found it offensive, but the restaurant owner Ayyad Al-Hamdan, 43, refused, prompting a huge social media debate.
A neighbour of the restaurant, who asked not to be named, told getwestlondon: "I was absolutely appalled when driving into Harrow this week to see a huge poster of the ruthless Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on display in a restaurants front window.
"Not only do I find this hugely offensive, but it is nothing more than a fingers up to all those fallen men and women whose monument stands proudly just a few yards away outside the Civic Centre.
"Come on Harrow Council and the British Police force lets show these people this really is overstepping the freedom of expression line."
A source told getwestlondon that the council is powerless to make the man remove the portrait, and that in discussions with officers he has been 'polite but defiant'.
Diners on restaurant review website Trip Advisor, which allows people to leave comments on their eating experiences in local venues, have even taken note of the portrait.
One user commented: "Menu looked good and like Lebanese food. But yes, there is, ideed [sic] a poster of Saddam Hussein in the window, which the owner apparently has refused to take down despite requests to do so.
"Nothing, not even good food, can persuade me or anyone I know to eat there in such circumstances. I urge all right thinking people to boycott this place until the offending poster is removed.
Leader of Harrow Council Susan Hall (Conservative) said: “I am all for free speech but the relatives of British service people killed or injured fighting in Iraq might not see it that way.
“Harrow has a multi-ethnic population and to allow this picture to remain in the restaurant window could give offence to many, and could prove a licence for agitators to provoke trouble.
“Public images of dictators be it Saddam Hussein, Hitler, or the leader of North Korea for that matter have no place in Harrow.
"This is a restaurant promotion that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.”
