France Confirms Decision to Seek Total Burqa Ban

Beyond the Veil| French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling party will formalize its desire for a law banning the full-face Islamic veil in order to defend France from “extremists”, the party’s parliamentary leader said last week.

“The issue is not how many women wear the burqa,” Jean-Francois Cope wrote in the Paris newspaper Le Figaro.

“There are principles at stake: extremists are putting the republic to the test by promoting a practice that they know is contrary to the basic principles of our country,” he said.

“Several hundred” women cover themselves fully when they leave their homes, Cope said, adding that no-one in France, not even Muslim leaders, believed that this should be allowed to continue.

The majority leader invoked security reasons for the ban that would apply to public offices as well as shops and other public areas and said “hiding your face in public” was not a choice but a rejection of open society. via AFP: “French ruling party to seek compete burqa ban”