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France one step closer to banning the full face veil.
Nice to see one country still has the balls to stand up for its values.
As MPs in France today rubber-stamped proposals to partially ban Muslim women from wearing the full veil, President Nicolas Sarkozy said the freedom of worship was one of the "basic freedoms guaranteed by our constitution".
While on a visit to war graves – many of them Muslim – near Arras in north-east France, he said: "Islam is now the religion of many French people and our country, having known both wars of religion and fratricidal battles of state anti-clericalism, cannot let French Muslim citizens be stigmatised. I will not let anyone lead my country down this regressive path."
In Paris, however, battle raged as the results of a six-month inquiry into the full veil culminated in a stormy presentation to parliament in which the report was nearly derailed at the last minute.
André Gerin, the Communist MP presiding over the committee, said the report, which recommends banning the veil in public places such as hospitals, school entrances, post offices and public transport, sent a clear signal that it was not compatible with French values.
"Behind the full veil hide scandalous practices that are contrary to our history," he said. "In order to say no to the full veil we are determined to wage a controlled political battle against fundamentalism … [so that] we can work towards an Islam which is compatible with the republic."
However, while the ban might seem extreme outside France, many MPs in Paris argued the proposals did not go far enough. Several in Sarkozy's UMP party denounced them as "a half law". They would like to see women barred from wearing the full veil anywhere in public.
In a fresh sign of the tensions surrounding the debate, a moderate imam in the Parisian suburb of Drancy today said he had been targeted by about 80 people who broke into his mosque and shouted abuse at him. Hassen Chalghoumi, who had spoken out last week in favour of a ban on the burka, was threatened on Monday night by the gang, which called him an apostate and an "imam for Jews".
While on a visit to war graves – many of them Muslim – near Arras in north-east France, he said: "Islam is now the religion of many French people and our country, having known both wars of religion and fratricidal battles of state anti-clericalism, cannot let French Muslim citizens be stigmatised. I will not let anyone lead my country down this regressive path."
In Paris, however, battle raged as the results of a six-month inquiry into the full veil culminated in a stormy presentation to parliament in which the report was nearly derailed at the last minute.
André Gerin, the Communist MP presiding over the committee, said the report, which recommends banning the veil in public places such as hospitals, school entrances, post offices and public transport, sent a clear signal that it was not compatible with French values.
"Behind the full veil hide scandalous practices that are contrary to our history," he said. "In order to say no to the full veil we are determined to wage a controlled political battle against fundamentalism … [so that] we can work towards an Islam which is compatible with the republic."
However, while the ban might seem extreme outside France, many MPs in Paris argued the proposals did not go far enough. Several in Sarkozy's UMP party denounced them as "a half law". They would like to see women barred from wearing the full veil anywhere in public.
In a fresh sign of the tensions surrounding the debate, a moderate imam in the Parisian suburb of Drancy today said he had been targeted by about 80 people who broke into his mosque and shouted abuse at him. Hassen Chalghoumi, who had spoken out last week in favour of a ban on the burka, was threatened on Monday night by the gang, which called him an apostate and an "imam for Jews".
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