Paris: France is moving towards outlawing full Islamic veils in certain public buildings, stopping short of a broader ban that could violate the right to religious freedom, Le Figaro newspaper reported Wednesday
A French parliamentary inquiry into the all-covering niqab and burqa, which President Nicolas Sarkozy has described as unwelcome in France, is due to publish its recommendations next month and a compromise looks likely.
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"Permanently masking one's face in public spaces is not an expression of individual liberty," Jean-Francois Cope, the parliamentary party leader of Sarkozy's UMP party, said in an opinion piece in Le Figaro.
"It's a negation of oneself, a negation of others, a negation of social life," he said, but conceded that a complete ban faced certain legal obstacles.
Hurting freedom
Le Figaro quoted advisers as saying such a ban could be challenged before the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that it hurt religious freedom.
Instead, the government will seek to banish the garments from public buildings such as town halls and police headquarters, where it can cite security concerns, it said.
Universities, streets and public transport would not be touched by the ban, which in any case would affect only a small group of people the number of women in France who wear the niqab or the burqa is estimated at a few hundred.
Earlier this year, France's proposal to make full veils illegal sparked an outcry from some and applause from others.
"Everyone has the right to wear whatever they want to," a French woman of Moroccan descent said.