Saudi store pulls Trump books from its shelves

Saudi Arabia-based retail chain Jarir Bookstore has remov-ed books written by US presidential candidate Do-nald Trump from its she-lves, it said on Tuesday, part of a backlash against his proposal to stop Mu-slims from entering the United States.

Jarir, part of one of the Gulf kingdom’s biggest retailers, Jarir Marketing Co., announced the move in a Twitter response to another user’s call for a boycott of the Republican frontrunner’s books.

“Jarir Bookstore sells books by Donald Trump, who is known for making comments offensive to Muslims and Islam. We ask them please to remove them,” wrote Saudi user Mogatah on December 19, along with a photo of the Arabic-language edition of Mr Trump’s 2009 book Think Like a Champion.

“The copies have been removed, we thank you for your comment,” Jarir replied, three days later.The move continues the backlash against Mr Trump’s business interests in the Middle East, where his brand has grown toxic as a result of his anti-Muslim comments.

On December 9, Dubai-based retailer Landmark halted sales of Mr Trump merchandise at its Lifestyle stores, which had been selling Trump-branded lamps, mirrors and jewellery boxes throughout the Gulf region.

The following day, a Dubai real estate firm building a $6billion golf complex with Mr Trump, stripped the property of his and his daughter's images, replacing them with generic photos of the project’s planned homes.