A police investigation has started after a ski hire shop said it would not rent equipment to Jewish customers.

The Pischa shop in Davos, Switzerland, quickly took down the signs written in Hebrew.

But Swiss police are looking into what may be seen as a violation of the country’s laws against discrimination and incitement to racial or religious hatred.

Posters in the sports shop window told customers “because of incidents, including theft, we no longer rent sports equipment to our Jewish brothers”.

Only 24 hours after putting the posters up, they were taken down after a storm of protest.

Davos Mayor Philipp Wilhelm told Swiss media:

“Any and all forms of antisemitism, racism and discrimination must be condemned. This does not belong in Davos.”

The manager of the shop has apologized, agreeing that the poster had been “badly worded”.

Jewish customers were welcome, he said, with immediate effect.