France, the country best-known for its public anti-burqa sentiment, is readying itself for a September vote on the controversial piece of legislation to ban the Islamic veil. A story put out by the AP reports that the French parliament is currently debating the massively popular bill:
Polls show voters overwhelmingly support a ban. In parliament, criticism was mostly timid, and relatively few dissenters spoke out about civil liberties or fears of fanning anti-Islam sentiment in a country where there are an estimated 5 million Muslims, and where mainstream society has struggled to integrate generations of immigrants.
Numerous politicians, in fact, have slammed the Islamic veils: some have even gone as far as calling burqas “muzzles” and “walking coffins.” That said, the small contingency of individuals opposing the ban on legal bases have been validated by the country’s highest administrative body, the Council of State, which “warned that it [the ban] could be found unconstitutional. It [the Council of State] rejected possible legal justifications one by one, including the French tradition of secularism, equality for women, human dignity and concerns about public security.”
The European Court of Human Rights is also posed to oppose the ban, should it be passed by France’s Senate this September. To read more, click here.