Tensions flare in France over veil ban

[X Factor 1,112]

Tensions flare in France over veil ban

MARSEILLE, France — Though it was almost midnight, streets were full of Muslim families taking a stroll after breaking the Ramadan fast with a late dinner. As two policemen drove by a storefront recycled as the Grand Sunna Mosque, they noticed a woman wearing flowing black robes and a full-face veil.

The policemen alighted from their patrol car and challenged the woman on her veil, which has been illegal in France since April 2011. After an angry exchange, police said later, the woman shouted that she would not abide by the anti-veil law, and a youth told police they had no business patrolling the neighborhood and accosting its predominantly Muslim residents.

The confrontation quickly escalated into a shoving match, with several dozen young bystanders joining in and carloads of police reinforcements speeding up to lend a hand. Before long it erupted into what was described in the National Assembly in Paris as a riot, during which a female police officer was bitten on the arm and two of her male colleagues were bashed and bruised.

The sudden clash, which took place July 24 in Marseille, was the most serious instance of resistance to the veil ban during its 16 months of enforcement, according to police. Although it subsided almost as quickly as it flared, the outburst focused national attention on simmering resentment over the ban among France’s most militant and tradition-minded Muslims.

Although complaining about what they call “stigmatization,” France’s mainstream Muslim organizations have recognized the ban as the law of the land and called on followers to heed it. Most have gone along. But the makeshift Grand Sunna Mosque, police noted, has acquired a reputation as a home for the city’s more radical preachers, over whom the moderate national groups have little sway and whose followers are eager to affirm their Muslim identity.

“For young militants, this ban upsets them,” said Nassera Benmarnia, who heads the local Muslim Family Union. “But most people just want to be left alone.”

A middle-aged man, sweating behind the counter of a busy shawarma shop, with recordings of plaintive Koranic verse playing in the background, agreed. Between handing out sandwiches, he explained that most French Muslims see no need for a full-face veil, but that for some, it is the response to a “Muslim taboo,” forbidding the display of a woman’s beauty outside her family.

France, which has Europe’s largest Muslim population, is the only country with a national ban against full-face veils, usually called a niqab. The law has been supported across the political spectrum in Paris. But the U.S. State Department, in an annual report on religious freedom, recently criticized it for the second time as an infringement on freedom of choice.

Belgium’s lower house of Parliament has passed similar anti-veil legislation, and the government hopes to get the law validated soon in the Senate. The Dutch government has said it also would seek to impose a ban next year. Meanwhile, some Belgian cities, including Brussels, the capital, have already enacted bans at the municipal level.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/tensions-flare-in-france-over-veil-ban/2012/08/08/67b56fc2-e150-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_story.html

[sandinista! 1,816]

Fight the power

[Danno 1,228]

wonder how hard they enforce the band.

[X Factor 1,112]

wonder how hard they enforce the band.

And what was the real reason behing the ban?

[Danno 1,228]

And what was the real reason behing the ban?

I thought it was obvious they realize that multiculturalism has failed, they will have to take steps to halt the obvious cultural and other expressions which so starkly make two groups in one country.

The veil is a first step.

[sandinista! 1,816]

It was a "multicultural" effort to liberate France from the nazis in the 1940s, and a "multicultural" effort to rebuild the place after two world wars, by way of hundreds of thousands of Africans living under French colonization whose ancestors live there today. If the blood of the French colonized was good enough to be shed for the country, and their "multicultural" labor was good enough to rebuild it, it's their damn country too. If the French don't like them, and whatever damn clothes they want to wear, tough.

[justashooter 430]

It was a "multicultural" effort to liberate France from the nazis in the 1940s, and a "multicultural" effort to rebuild the place after two world wars, by way of hundreds of thousands of Africans living under French colonization whose ancestors live there today.

reality check for you there, hun. it was American dollars and materiel and men that pulled france from the brink of destruction in both wars. sure, there were a smattering of largely ineffective french colonial troops involved in both conflicts, but they were insignificant, at best.

as for the US state department comment, well, that is changing in january, when the half/dhmini leaves office.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Got to go with Sandi on this one. With a qualifier that women in France who don't want to wear clothing that is ridiculous and demeaning get protection to defend their right to not do so even if it offends their family. The full facemask look is not exactly a positive affectation, and I am sure there are some pressured into it against their will. Looking ridiculous is a human right.

[^_^ 5,021]

... when the half/dhmini leaves office.

You spelled that wrong, boy genius.

[justashooter 430]

You spelled that wrong, boy genius.

i spelled it that way to be sure you understood it, half-wit.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What's the point of referring Obama in racial terms? You don't think that's a bit racist?

[justashooter 430]

What's the point of referring Obama in racial terms? You don't think that's a bit racist?

no reference to racial terms. that conception is your own projection.

a reference to his unnatural subservience to muslim teaching, blended with a partial natural allegiance.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

No its not a projection, it's quite obvious what you are saying.

When you identify an individual by their race or ethnicity, you are being racist.

You're simply not clever or literate enough to disguise it. Sorry if that bursts your bubble mate.

[justashooter 430]

No its not a projection, it's quite obvious what you are saying.

When you identify an individual by their race or ethnicity, you are being racist.

You're simply not clever or literate enough to disguise it. Sorry if that bursts your bubble mate.

when cornered your accusations and denial increase, my friend. the facts remain unanswered.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

And you're still speaking gibberish. There's no need for me to accuse or deny anything, I have no personal interest in this other than pointing out what I see as blatant racism.

Seems the denial here is all on your side of the issue. You want to say racist things without being labelled a racist.