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France will oppose but not ban burkas: deputy
[Al Arabiya Latest] France will issue recommendations against full face veils but not pass a law barring Muslim women from wearing them, a leading backer of a legal ban said on Friday.Andre Gerin, chairman of a parliamentary inquiry into use of full face veils in France, reluctantly ruled out a ban one day after President Nicolas Sarkozy repeated his conviction that "France is a country that has no place for the burka." France banned Muslim headscarves in state schools in 2004 following a similar inquiry and looked set to bring in an outright ban on veils coverings the whole face, such as burkas or niqabs, when it launched the panel last June at the request of Gerin, a Communist deputy from Lyon. But at its weekly hearings, legal experts, local officials, Muslim leaders and even some militant secularists have told the deputies on the panel that a ban could be anti-constitutional, counterproductive and impossible to enforce. Gerin, who denounces the head-to-toe veils as "walking coffins," told Europe 1 radio: "We'll end up with recommendations ... not a law in itself against the burka, maybe a symbolic law, a law of liberation (of women)." Backing off from a complete ban, he said the panel might propose "radical measures" to ban full face veils in municipal hospitals and other public institutions, but gave no details. France, whose five million Muslims make up Europe's largest Islamic minority, has been criticized in the Muslim world for considering a burka ban. French Islamic community leaders have warned against passing a law that would stigmatize Muslims. Posted by: Fred 2009-11-14 |
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