French full veil ban goes into force

[Mark]

French full veil ban goes into force

France's ban on full face veils, a first in Europe, went into force on Monday, exposing anyone who wears the Muslim niqab or burqa in public to fines of 150 euros ($216).

A Muslim property dealer, who is urging women to keep wearing the veil if they want to, has urged supporters to go to Notre Dame cathedral in central Paris for a silent prayer during the day, and is also offering to help people pay the fines.

France's five-million-strong Muslim minority is Western Europe's largest, but fewer than 2,000 women are believed actually to wear a full face veil.

Many Muslim leaders have said they support neither the veil nor the law banning it.

The timing is all the more sensitive after France's ruling political party, President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP, called a debate on the place of Islam in France, a move that some say risked stigmatising a portion of the population.

rest: http://af.reuters.com/article/moroccoNews/idAFLDE7390IX20110410?sp=true

[Mark]

I wonder when the riots will start?

[Mark]

Woman defies new ban on veil

 A WOMAN was arrested at Avignon station this morning as she tried to board a train for Paris wearing the niqab [full veil] on the first day of the controversial new law on wearing the burqa and niqab.

It comes after a weekend where around 60 people were arrested in the run-up to a planned demonstration against the law in the Place de la Nation in Paris.

Most of those arrested were men. They were said to include Islamic radical Anjem Choudary, leader of the now-banned Islam4UK group in Britain. Fears of violence had prompted the Préfecture de Police to ban the protest.

The woman arrested in Avignon was heading to Paris for a TV interview on the burqa ban and said it was an “attack on my European rights, my freedom to come and go, my religious freedom”. She faces a €150 fine or a compulsory citizenship course.

Passed in October, the law against concealing your identity in a public place came into force today after a six-month delay for assimilation. It forbids the niqab full veil, which leaves only a small slit for the eyes, and the burqa, which is a full veil with a lace cover in front of the eyes. It is thought that up to 2,000 women wear the veils.

Forcing a woman to wear a burqa or niqab could lead to a penalty of 12-months’ jail and a €30,000 fine. The penalty is doubled for forcing a minor to wear the veil.

The law also bans people from wearing masks or full balaclavas, except during fetes, artistic performances or sports events.

Former presidential candidate Rachid Nekkaz, the spokesman for the group Don’t Touch my Constitution, said he planned to sell a house he owned in Choisy to pay the fines of any woman arrested for wearing the veil.

He added that he was against the present law but had supported previous plans to restrict a ban to closed public places, like banks, shopping centres, council offices and schools.

Mr Nekkaz has called for a silent vigil today on the Parvis in front of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.

The open wearing of religious icons and garments has been banned in French schools since 2004. It is forbidden for pupils, teachers and parents at school to wear veils, whether full or not, the Jewish kippa skullcap, large Christian crosses and Sikh turbans.

http://connexionfrance.com/Woman-arrested-protest-Avignon-France-veil-burqa-niqab-12662-view-article.html

[Kilika]

The law also bans people from wearing masks or full balaclavas, except during fetes, artistic performances or sports events.

From what I hear, my uncle included, it's a sporting event just to walk through Paris without getting pickpocketed by the little street urchin orphans that roam Paris in packs. But that's another story.

I suspect those veils were playing havoc on facial recognition software!

[Mark]

'Burqa ban' moves forward

The prospect of Italy following France and Belgium with a 'burqa ban' moved a step forward Tuesday when a bill backed by the centre-right ruling coalition was approved by a parliamentary committee.

The bill, the product of eight separate proposals by Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PdL) and the rightwing Northern League party, its junior partner, got the green light from the House Constitutional Affairs committee.

It will go before the full House in September, political sources said. The bill was framed amid heated debate about the security implications of Islamic face coverings and after several moves by the League against the burqa at local level. The draft law, which makes no mention of religion, would also ban the niqab, which covers the bottom part of the face only, and other head-covering garments "of ethnic origin".

The penalty for transgressors will be a fine of between 150 and 300 euros or alternatively some kind of community service "aimed at encouraging integration".

The bill is even more severe in aiming to discourage anyone "who forces someone else to wear it, using either physical or psychological violence".

This offence would be punishable by a year in prison and a 30,000-euro fine.

The bill's rapporteur, Suad Sbai of the Pdl, said Tuesday's vote, in which the centre-left opposition Democratic Party was the only party to vote No, was "a decisive push for a measure (promoting) freedom and civilised values".

"We won't stop, on the road towards the liberation of women who are segregated and without rights," she said. A 1975 law already prohibits any mask or clothing that makes it impossible to identify the wearer.

In its current form, it permits exceptions for 'justified cause', which has been interpreted as including religious reasons in court rulings against local attempts to ban the burqa and niqab.

REST: http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2011/08/02/visualizza_new.html_759262606.html

[Mark]

Belgian burqa ban comes into force

On July 23, Belgium implemented a legal ban on wearing the Islamic burqa in public. Under this anti-democratic measure any woman wearing a burqa in public can be fined €137.50 (nearly $200) and faces up to seven days in jail.

The ban targets those who, without legal exemption, appear in places accessible to the public with their faces masked or hidden entirely or in part in such a manner that they cannot be identified. This is universally understood as an attack on Muslim veils. The legal exemptions apply only to those who are masked “due to work regulations or who have obtained a police order for festive occasions”.

Denis Ducarme, an MP from the francophone liberal MR party that drafted the bill, said it was “a question of public safety”. He insisted that the state should be able “to identify [people] in the streets for security reasons”. He said the legislation was aimed against the risk of women becoming “slaves to a question of religion”, describing Muslim veils as “just … sectarian behaviour imported from Pakistan, Afghanistan … it’s not an obligation in the Koran”.

Daniel Bacquelaine (MR), who proposed the bill, said it was necessary to forbid the wearing of clothes that “totally mask and enclose” the wearer. He described wearing the burqa as “not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society”. Peter DeDecker of the Flemish separatist NVA saw the ban as a way of defending “our fundamental principles of the enlightenment”.

rest: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/belg-a02.shtml

[Mark]

French police, youths clash after veil incident

About 250 people hurling projectiles clashed with police firing tear gas west of Paris, in apparent protest over enforcement of France's ban on Islamic face veils. Five people were injured and six detained in the violence, authorities said Saturday.

The interior minister urged calm and dialogue, insisting on both the need for public order and respect for France's Muslims. The incident in the town of Trappes on Friday night reflected sporadic tensions between police upholding France's strict policies of secularism and those who accuse authorities of discriminating against France's No. 2 religion.

http://news.yahoo.com/french-police-youths-clash-veil-incident-103343579.html


Violence continues in France over Islamic veil ban

Some 20 cars have been torched and four people detained in a second night of violence in suburbs west of Paris.
 
France's interior minister said Sunday that the incidents overnight targeted the town of Elancourt.
 
Police union official said on BFM television that about 50 assailants were involved, some firing weapons and a gasoline bomb at police.
 
The night before, about 250 people hurling projectiles clashed with police firing tear gas in the nearby town of Trappes in apparent protest over the enforcement of France's ban on Islamic face veils. Five people were injured and six detained in the violence, authorities said Saturday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57594728/violence-continues-in-france-over-islamic-veil-ban/

[Mark]

Netherlands backs veil ban plans

The Dutch government yesterday agreed to introduce a partial ban on the wearing of the full-face veil in public places, the Home Affairs Ministry said.

The proposed ban, which must be approved by parliament before it can become law, would apply to all face-covering clothing, including ski-masks and helmets, on public transport and in schools, hospitals and government offices.

The measure 'had nothing to do with religion, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in The Hague after the proposed measure was passed by the cabinet.

'In a free country like the Netherlands, everyone has the right to dress how they choose, no matter what others think. That freedom is only limited in situations when it is essential for people to look at each other, the statement said.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=402475